A woman is in hospital with serious gunshot injuries after an officer-involved shooting at a domestic dispute on the Ucluelet First Nation Saturday evening.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council said Monday that its members are “shocked and appalled” that another shooting has happened just two months after one near Tofino.
A Tla-o-qui-aht man died Feb. 26 near Tofino in an RCMP-involved shooting.
“These senseless shootings are far too much and shouldn’t be happening,” the tribal council said in a statement.
In the latest incident, RCMP officers went to a home in the 600-block of Albert Road after receiving a report of a disturbance and a man needing medical attention, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. said in a statement.
When officers arrived, they found a man and a woman, and the woman was reportedly in possession of a weapon, the statement said.
Police fired shots and the woman sustained serious gunshot injuries, it said. Both the man and woman were taken to hospital for treatment.
The fact the woman had a weapon is not an excuse for a shooting, the tribal council said.
“We have seen many instances where armed non-First Nations who are actively harming people/infrastructure [are] arrested without incident,” the council said. “We ask that our people receive the same humane treatment that the rest of society receives and that the violence and harm stop.”
Tribal council president Judith Sayers said police shootings of its members, including Chantal Moore in New Brunswick, have become “an epidemic” and called for more police de-escalation training.
“While we are working with the RCMP to try and resolve these issues, we must act quicker and ensure the co-operation of the RCMP to make changes.”
A statement posted on the Yuułuʔiłʔath (Ucluelet First Nation) Facebook page Saturday said: “We would like to acknowledge there has been a serious incident in Hitac̓u this evening.”
The community of Hitac̓u is on the east side of Ucluelet Inlet across the bay from the District of Ucluelet and is the main community for the nation.
The matter is under investigation, the statement said.
“There have been no fatalities, nor life-threatening injuries to those involved,” it said. “We ask everyone to please refrain from immediate comment on this post, until we are able to disclose information and correctly answer your questions.”
The Independent Investigations Office is asking anyone with information about what happened to contact them on the witness line toll-free at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the iiobc.ca website.
The office is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in B.C.
It investigates officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
— With files from Jeff Bell
