BURNABY — A Victoria police officer expressed concerns about returning a rifle to Angus Mitchell weeks before he used the weapon to kill a man and a woman and seriously injure a former landlord, an inquest into Mitchell’s death was told Tuesday.
Mitchell, 26, walked into a Saanich doctors’ office with a rifle on Feb. 7, 2012, and left with it after police were called. Victoria police visited him at his Rockland home the next day and seized the rifle. It was given back to him several weeks later after he sought its return.
A Victoria police constable investigating the matter emailed the firearms officer in charge of Mitchell’s case with concerns, the inquest heard.
The email, according to lawyer Kevin Woodall, who is representing Const. Lane Douglas-Hunt, revealed that Mitchell had recently terminated his lease, and that he had written a disturbing note to his landlord earlier in the year.
Douglas-Hunt later told the inquest the landlord told her that Mitchell is “a weird guy, he’s not very nice, he’s anti-social and he’s got some mental issues.”
The landlord showed Douglas-Hunt the note, which the constable said was “very concerning.”
“Due to the fact that I have no next of kin (family), in the event of incarceration (jail) or death, I request that all personal property . . . be disposed of by way of garbage,” Douglas-Hunt read from Mitchell’s note. “No properties are to be taken or recycled. In the event I am held in jail, I want my property held in storage. However, if I indicate otherwise, it will be put in garbage. All property should be stored or put in garbage.”
Mitchell had no criminal record and was fairly young, so Douglas-Hunt said she found it odd that he wrote of being in jail and dying.
“There was clearly something only he knew of at that time, and that’s what prompted him to write that note, so we needed to find out what that was,” Douglas-Hunt said.
When police arrived to take Mitchell into custody, they found that his apartment was meticulously arranged with what Douglas-Hunt described as military precision.
There were stacks of clothes folded perfectly in a suitcase, perfectly portioned food in the fridge and a backpack stocked with medication, she said. A big hatchet and hunting knife were also attached to a wall, and a single round of ammunition sat on top of a desk. His rifle and a box of ammunition were in a case leaning against a closet, Douglas-Hunt testified.
On May 27, 2012, Mitchell used the rifle to shoot and kill two people at a Burnaby sushi restaurant. He shot and injured a former landlord two days later.
On May 30, in Maple Ridge, he was cornered by RCMP officers. Mitchell fired at them and they returned fire, hitting him. He died in hospital that day.
The inquest heard that Mitchell was granted a firearms licence even though a background check showed police complaints had been lodged against him for uttering threats and being involved in a verbal altercation.
Terry Hamilton, chief firearms officer for B.C. and Yukon, testified that since Mitchell was never charged, her office approved his licence application.
“Bad temper is not sufficient grounds to deny somebody a firearms licence,” she said.
A firearms officer has the power to revoke a person’s gun licence if public safety is threatened.
Hamilton said the rifle was returned to Mitchell upon advice from Victoria police. Other Victoria officers are expected to testify later at the inquest.
Lawyers at the inquest suggested that the Office of the Chief Firearms Officer should have dug deeper into Mitchell’s mental- health history before issuing him a gun licence.
Hamilton said the office relies on applicants to disclose whether they have a history of mental health or suicide issues, and that firearms employees do not have access to medical records. As a result of Mitchell’s death, her office hopes to make changes regarding disclosure of mental illnesses.
After Mitchell died, Mounties revealed that he had a hit list that included two schools, a group home, a coffee house and a gym.
Officers involved in Mitchell’s death were cleared of wrongdoing in an inquiry by the Vancouver Police Department. The report said a video recorded from a police helicopter showed Mitchell shot at police before they returned fire.
