Police fatally shoot man on Vancouver's Granville Bridge

The Vancouver Police Department says it hasnotified B.C.'s Independent Investigations Officeaftera fatal police-involved shooting on the GranvilleBridge Thursday evening.

In a statement, the VPDsaid officers respondedat 6:45 p.m. after a 911 caller reported a person acting erratically.

"When officers arrived there was an altercation that resulted in the man being shot and killed by police," reads the statement.

VPD Sgt. Steve Addison spoke to reporters later Thursday night.

"There's still lotswe don't know about what happened," Addison said, adding the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), which investigatesall police interactions in the province when someone is killed or seriously injured, will be leading a probeinto what happened.

Addison saidthe person who called 911 felt that a man who was walking on the bridge was "acting in a way that was a danger to public safety."

"When our officers arrived on scene, during the altercation, the officers perceived that there was a threat of either death or grievous bodily harm to them or others," Addison said, adding that severalofficers responded to the call, but it will be up to the IIO to determine how many of them fired their weapons.

"We believeat this point that the person either had a weapon or had access to a weapon."

The Granville Bridge was still shut down as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, and Addison said heexpected it to remainclosed for several more hours.

In a separate statement, the IIO said it had deployed investigators to the area Thursday night and will be trying to confirm the details of what happened during the altercation.

IIO asks not to jump to conclusions

On Friday afternoon, the IIO's chief civilian director Ron MacDonald toldOn the Coasthost Gloria Macarenkoit wastoo early for anyone to draw any conclusions.

"We know shots were fired. We know the man was struck by bullets and we know that he died from his injuries," he said, adding that eight IIO investigators were on scene until about 3 a.m. and returned again Friday during the day.

MacDonald said he was concerned the language used by police could potentially impact witnesses and suggest to the public thata decision about what happened Thursday nighthas already been made.

"That end of the bridge in Vancouver is a very populated area," MacDonald said.

"That means not only is there potential for many witnesses who would have seen something, heard something or taken video ... [but] it's a challenge for us to follow up."

MacDonald saidthe IIO is dealing with staffing shortages and a lack of resources even as the number of police-involved incidents it's tasked with investigating continues to rise.

While the number of police-involved deaths across B.C. is on pace to match the previous high of 76, set in 2020, the IIO says it's seen a spike in police shootings and police interactions where suspects had a firearm this year.

The IIO records its annual statistics based on the fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31, and there have been 65 police-involved deaths throughout the province since April 1, 2022.

The IIO is asking anyone who may have witnessed what happened or recorded video footage of the incident to contact the toll-free witness line at 1 855-446-8477 or fill out the contact formon their website.