The province’s police watchdog agency was called to a West Newton home Monday night after Surrey police shot a suspect.
The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia (IIO) says the Surrey Police Service (SPS) responded to a report of a “suspicious male” attempting a break-in at the home on Southpark Crescent near Boundary Drive South around 7:30 p.m.
“Police located the man who was the subject of the call and attempted to detain him. There was then an interaction, and shots were fired by police. The man sustained injuries and was taken by ambulance to the hospital for assessment and treatment,” the IIO described.
Officers and paramedics reportedly treated the shooting victim at the scene before he was taken to hospital for “injuries of unknown severity.”
The SPS then notified the IIO, which began investigating police actions.
The IIO is the civilian oversight agency for police and detention guards in B.C. It’s called to investigate after any police-related incidents that result in death or serious injury, whether or not there are any allegations of wrongdoing.
The office says it has begun investigating Monday night’s incident to determine if the man’s injuries qualify as ‘serious harm’ and if there’s a connection between the harm and an officer’s action or inaction.