A witness tells Castanet police shot a man following a brief standoff at a porta-potty in West Kelowna on Wednesday.
The resident of Skyline Road says heavily-armed officers abruptly descended on the street and trained their weapons on a porta-potty situated on an empty lot.
The resident says officers were shouting at the man to exit the porta-potty.
“He must have been there, 20 minutes or so, and then he came out and then they shot him,” said the witness, adding the suspect “went about 10 metres” before police opened fire.
“I just spoke to the police officer. He's still alive,” said the witness.
The suspect was then loaded into an ambulance.
Crime scene tape is now set up in the area surrounding the porta-potty.
The RCMP's last statement at 2 p.m. said "no further updates provided." They have said the incident is related to another large police response in Kelowna.
The Independent Investigations Office, B.C.'s police watchdog, will be called in to investigate the situation. The agency investigates all police incidents involving serious injury or death, regardless of whether there is any allegations of wrongdoing.
In a brief statement to Castanet, the IIO confirmed "an incident"
"Investigators are currently deploying to the area, and we anticipate issuing a media release at some point later today," said the organization's spokesperson.
