B.C.'s police watchdog has committed to appointing a civilian monitor from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation for its investigation into the police shooting of one of the nation's members on Saturday.
"Everyone is in agreement that this is a good move," said Ron MacDonald, the civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), the province's civilian led police oversight agency.
Tla-o-qui-aht man Julian Jones, 28, was shot and killed at a home in Opitsaht, a village in the First Nation near Tofino, B.C., as two RCMP officers searched for a woman believed to be in distress on Saturday night. Another man was taken into custody, while the woman was located and taken to hospital for medical assessment, RCMP said in a statement.
The IIO was called in to investigate the shooting, as it does with all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.