Prosecutors will not lay charges against any of the RCMP officers involved in the shooting death of Jared Lowndes in Campbell River nearly three years ago.
He died as police attempted to remove him from a vehicle and place him under arrest in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.
The BC Prosecution Service says no charges have been approved against three officers from Campbell River RCMP detachment involved in the fatal shooting.
The Chief Civilian Director of the Independent Investigations Office determined there were reasonable grounds to believe the officers may have committed offences when he submitted his report to prosecutors.
However, the BCPS found that “the available evidence does not meet the BCPS’s charge assessment standard,” and prosecutors would not be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers committed any offence.
As a result, no charges have been approved.
On July 8 of 2021, Lowndes was seen in a parked vehicle by an RCMP officer on routine patrol and was wanted on an arrest warrant for breaching a conditional sentence.
As the officer approached the driver’s window, the vehicle quickly backed up, struck the police vehicle, and sped away.
Lowndes was spotted later in a drive-thru at a local restaurant in Campbell River where three police officers attempted to box him in with police vehicles.
Lowndes was able to get out of the drive-thru, but was prevented from driving out of the parking lot and attempted to go backwards through the drive-thru and was blocked again by a police vehicle.
During the attempt to take Lowndes into custody, a police dog – Gator – was fatally stabbed, a police officer suffered stab wounds to his left hand, and a taser was used twice.
Lowndes then got out of the vehicle holding the knife and shots were fired by two of the RCMP officers.
He died at the scene.
