The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) has released a report which clears VicPD of any wrongdoing in connection with an incident that took place last summer.
On August 1st, 2025, at around 3:48 p.m., VicPD received numerous reports of a man armed with a rifle sitting across Pandora Avenue from Victoria city hall.
Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) responded alongside VicPD officers, who reportedly opted for a covert approach to the situation.
According to the IIO report, at 3:59 p.m., the armed man stood up and began walking across the street in the direction of city hall’s main entrance.
One witness officer told IIO investigators that he was walking “as if vehicles never drove down that road,” because he did not appear to look for traffic before crossing.
According to police, officers involved identified themselves and called to the man while he was crossing the road, but he was unresponsive and kept walking towards city hall.
It was then that one officer fired a round from an anti-riot weapon enfield (ARWEN), or “less-lethal” weapon.
The round struck the man in his head, causing him to fall to the ground.
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After analyzing witness statements, statements from officers involved and video evidence, the IIO determined that the round would have hit him in his “central mass” where it is less lethal, but the man either stepped down off a bike lane median or leaned forward causing the round to strike his head.
Police say once the man had fallen as a result of being shot in the head, they moved the weapon from his reach, handcuffed him and began to administer first aid for his life-threatening injury.
Once paramedics arrived, it was determined the man had suffered a depressed skull fracture on his right side with an underlying hemorrhage.
After surgery, doctors were able to remove the bone fragments and use a metal plate in his head to repair the damage done.
According to the statement of an officer who was present at the scene, if the ARWEN round had not been fired to subdue the armed suspect, lethal force would have been “felt necessary,” and the man may have been killed.
Once the man was taken down by the ARWEN round, it was determined that his rifle was a realistic-looking replica BB gun.
Five months later, after analyzing the evidence collected, the IIO’s chief civilian officer Jessica Berglund determined that no wrongdoing had been committed by VicPD or GVERT officers.
She noted that the officer’s use of force against the armed man was necessary and that the injury he sustained was a result of him bending forwards into the line of fire of the ARWEN round.
Though ARWEN weapons are designed to be non-lethal, in 2019, a round fired from an anti-riot weapon by a VicPD officer killed a woman who was suffering from a mental-health crisis. That incident led to a misconduct ruling against the officer in 2025.
