Update: Police shoot man dead during arrest

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Pedestrians stroll past police tape on Granville near 16th Avenue, where police shot a 39-year-old man dead.

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Sam Sullivans dream of safer streets seems a long way off.  Gunplay on our city streets in a major tourist destination is  not the attraction  Vancouver needs to be known for.

A man was shot dead by police officers late Monday night near the corner of West 16th and Granville in Vancouver. Witnesses heard up to eight gunshots.

Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said police received several 911 calls at 9:30 p.m. reporting that two men were assaulting another man. When police officers arrived one of the men swung a chain at them and a confrontation ensued.

A police officer was taken to hospital with injuries.

One witness, a woman who was driving northbound on Granville Street with her mother, said she saw police firing at two men who were on foot.

She said the man who was shot dead was "acting crazy" before he was killed. Another witness said the man was swinging a chain.

Several witnesses heard police at the scene shouting "Get down! Get down! Get down!" before the fatal shots were fired.

The dead man's body was sprawled across the Granville Street centre line between 15th and 16th as a crowd of police and onlookers gathered.

Daniel Buss, 23, was dining with his friend down the street when they heard shots.

When they went outside, they saw a man crawling across the street from a distance.

"It's horrible. It's horrible seeing someone die," said Buss. "I thought it was firecrackers."

A man who lives directly above where the shooting occurred said the victim was a large, bald white man who "looked like a biker."

When the man got down to street level, he said he saw at least six police officers with their guns - some with service revolvers, others with shotguns - trained on the man. The victim was initially moving and crawling, before going still, he said.

"http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4e526495-75b5-4ddf-a845-fa65bbb9479a&k=31435"]

Vancouver Sun

UPDATE 

Police shootingMan struck two officers before he was shot dead, police say. Witnesses say up to eight shots fired by officers at sceneBy Chad Skelton,
Vancouver SunPublished: Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A
man shot dead by Vancouver police Monday night hit two officers with a
metal chain and was approaching three more when he was shot, the city's
new police chief said today.

The 39-year-old man, whose name has not been released by police, died at the scene.

Chief
Const. Jim Chu, at a news conference on his first day as head of the
force, said the incident began around 9:30 p.m. Monday when police
received a 911 call that two people were beating up a third person near
16th Avenue and Granville Street.

Vancouver police stand guard over the body of a male victim of a police shooting on Granville Street late Monday.

When police arrived, only one person was still at the scene: a large man sitting on a bus stop bench.

"This man turned away from our officers and they could see something shiny in his hand," said Chu.

Police
asked the man to drop the item, which turned out to be a claw hammer,
and to lie down on the ground. The man dropped the item and began to
lie down - but not completely.

"One of the officers at the scene
approached the man and attempted to handcuff him," said Chu. "This man
bolted up and swung a chain, striking our officer in the head. This
officer dropped quickly to the ground and was incapacitated."

The
man then started swinging the chain, said Chu, striking a second
officer in the face. By that time, three other officers had arrived on
the scene and the man started walking towards them, said Chu, swinging
the metal chain as he walked down the street.

"These officers backed up about half a block and at that point he was shot" by one of the three officers, said Chu.

The officer who shot the man has three years of experience.

On
Monday night, witnesses to the shooting described hearing up to eight
shots. Chu refused to confirm that but said police would release the
number of shots fired at a later date.

Five detectives are
investigating the shooting and will prepare a report for Crown
prosecutors, said Chu. He said the department's professional standards
unit will also be monitoring the case and that the office of the police
complaints commissioner has been notified.

Jeff Dolan, assistant
deputy chief coroner, said the coroners service is investigating the
man's death but has not yet determined whether to hold an inquest.

Chu
said the officers at the scene did not have Tasers. However, according
to police, one officer was in the process of getting a beanbag round
from the trunk of his patrol car at the time of the shooting.

Chu
said the chain the man was carrying was "quite large" and had a padlock
at the end of it. The officer struck in the head, a 17-year veteran of
the force, was taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

"I
did talk to him," said Chu. "He had a lot of swelling and he was kind
of groggy. He hadn't had his stitches yet and was just going in for
X-rays."

The officer struck in the face, who has two years experience, was treated at the scene by paramedics.

Chu
expressed sympathy for the dead man's family today and said police
shootings take a "heavy toll" on officers and their families. All the
officers involved in the shooting are being offered counselling.

The shooting took place in a fairly congested area of south Granville and was witnessed by several people.

"I heard about a dozen people were asked to come down to the police station to provide statements," said Chu.

Nicholas Candaele, 28, was eating supper at the Red Door restaurant when he heard shots fired and went outside to look.

"It's a distance. We couldn't see that close," he said.

He
pointed to a body covered in a white sheet lying across the centre line
at 16th and Granville: "We saw him crawling across the street."

Almost instantly, he said, about 20 police cars arrived.

"There were so many cops," said Candaele, who lives nearby. "They kept coming and coming."

Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call 604-717-2500.

cskelton@png.canwest.com

Update August 15th, 2007 

Cops shoot, kill chain-wielding manProbe to address conflicting witness reports, new police chief saysGlenda Luymes, with a file by John Coleburn,
The ProvincePublished: Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The first gunshot got Ben Doyle's attention.

Looking
from a rooftop balcony, he saw a man walk slowly to the middle of
Granville Street. There was another burst of fire, and the man twisted
and fell to the pavement.

"It's not something I really wanted to
see," Doyle said yesterday, watching as firefighters sprayed the man's
blood from the street's yellow centre line. "It was a loud, scary
scene."

The
shooting of the 39-year-old by police was described in a similar way by
police Chief Jim Chu, on his first day as the city's top cop.

At
9:30 p.m. Monday, police received a 911 call reporting an assault by
two men on a third person near Granville and 16th Avenue.

Chu
said the first officers to arrive saw a "very large" man seated at the
bus stop on the east side of Granville. He turned away from them, but
they could see something shiny in his hand. It turned out to be a claw
hammer.

"This man complied with our commands and dropped the
hammer," said Chu. "When he was told to lie on the ground, he started
to lie down but didn't completely comply.

"One of the officers at
the scene approached the man and attempted to handcuff him. This man
bolted up and swung a chain, striking our officer in the head."

With one officer unconscious, the man allegedly swung the heavy lock and chain again, hitting another officer in the face.

Then he turned his attention to three other officers.

"He
advanced at these officers swinging his chain," said Chu. "These
officers backed up about half a block and, at that point, he was shot
by these officers."

He died at the scene. Chu would not release the victim's name.

The cop who shot him has been a Vancouver officer for three years.

"Our
thoughts and sympathies go to the family of the deceased," said Chu.
"Calls like this do take a heavy toll on the officers involved."

Chu said he visited one of the injured officers in hospital. The 17-year officer had stitches and was later discharged.

"The side of his head was actually quite swollen," Chu said.

The other injured officer, with two years' experience, was treated at the scene.

Chu wouldn't say how many shots were fired or from what distance.

Asked
about conflicting witness reports that the victim was crawling or had
his hands in the air when he was shot, Chu said those questions will be
answered "as the investigation progresses."

Chu said the officers
involved were not armed with Tasers, but another officer was getting a
non-lethal weapon out of the trunk of his car when the shooting
happened.

"We attend thousands of fight calls every year," said
Chu. "What happened here . . . happened in a matter of seconds. We had
an officer down and unconscious. Our officers are trained quite well,
and they took the option they had to take."

On Granville Street yesterday, neighbours and shoppers said the shooting didn't shock them, but the location was a surprise.

Gillian Hervey said she heard about six shots as she was watching television.

"After the gunshots, we didn't want to go out there," she said. "I was kind of freaked out to know those shots killed the guy."

 Probe to address conflicting witness reports, new police chief says

Glenda Luymes, with a file by John Coleburn,
The Province

Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Veronica
Moradi, manager at Turnabout Consignment Clothing on Granville, worried
the shooting might be linked to a restaurant that recently opened in
the area.

"When there was only clothing shops, we didn't have a problem," she said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Vancouver police homicide unit.

gluymes@png.canwest.com

- - -

RECENT POLICE SHOOTINGS

-
Feb. 3, 2007: Victoria police shoot and kill John Seguin, 37, after a
high-speed chase. Police said Seguin was driving a stolen SUV when he
tried to run over three officers, who then opened fire on him.

-
Aug. 13, 2006: A Mountie near McLeese Lake shoots to death an American
deportee who was camping illegally at the top of a runaway lane. The
two were involved in a scuffle when the rookie police officer fired.

-
Oct. 29, 2005: Houston RCMP Const. Paul Koester shoots and kills
22-year-old Ian Bush in a police interview room after arresting him
outside a hockey game for having an open bottle of beer.

- Sept.
10, 2005: A Victoria police officer shoots a 25-year-old violent but
unarmed man in the abdomen during a struggle outside a McDonald's
restaurant.

- Aug. 23, 2005: New Westminster police Const. Todd
Sweet shoots at an SUV involved in a police chase, killing 16-year-old
Kyle Tait, a passenger in the vehicle.

- Sept. 28, 2004: A Vancouver police officer shoots a violent mentally-ill man to death after he stabbed his partner in the arm.

- Dec. 19, 2004: A Vanderhoof police officer shoots to death Kevin St. Arnaud after a break-and-enter at a drug store.

-
July 14, 2003: A Port Moody police officer shoots an 18-year-old man in
the leg after he smashed a car window with a machete and tried to
escape police.

Update: Friends identify man shot by Vancouver police

This news has not been made official by Police, but by the slain man's friends.

A
group of friends who gathered at a makeshift memorial on Granville
Street on Friday said their friend Paul Boyd was the 39-year-old man
shot and killed by Vancouver police Monday night.

This comes as more witnesses are stepping forward with their version of events.

Friends of the man shot and killed by police gather on Friday at a
memorial on Granville and 16th Avenue.Friends of the man shot and
killed by police gather on Friday at a memorial on Granville and 16th
Avenue.

(Jeremy Nuttall/CBC)

The Vancouver department itself has not released the name of the
man, who was shot after police allege he began assaulting officers
responding to a 911 call with a potentially lethal weapon.

CBC News spoke to some of Boyd's friends who said he was a towering,
jovial animator who worked for a company in Vancouver. Other friends
who dropped off flowers at Granville Street and 16th Avenue said he was
reclusive and was recently hospitalized and on medication.

Police are releasing few details about their investigation into the
shooting. They have interviewed two dozen witnesses but expressed
frustration about getting more to come forward.

Vancouver police maintain that the officer shot the man in self
defence. They said earlier this week that the officer who fired the
fatal shot has been on the force for three years.

Another witness steps forward

A witness who came forward on Friday told CBC News he thought police used unnecessary force.

Jonathan Menzies said he was in a stopped bus when the gunfire
began. He compares the man's death to an execution, claiming he was on
his knees when the last shots were fired.

"They had made a decision to kill this man and they shot him and
shot him and shot him until he could not do anything at all," Menzies
said.

Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said on Friday people
talking to the media about what they witnessed is becoming a headache.

"It's frustrating sometimes when you see them interviewed for the
first time on the nightly news or in the newspaper and they haven't
been interviewed by investigators," Chow said.

Chow said witnesses should come to police first.

Menzies said he called police but has not heard back from them.

Another witness, Christine Adkins, told CBC News on Tuesday she did
not see the alleged assaults but she saw the man attempting to flee
when he was shot by police in the middle of traffic.

Source: cbc.ca via Barry Artiste