A 46-year-old man has died after being shot by police officers once he rammed a stolen car into a police cruiser in an alleyway behind a Surrey business park, Mounties said yesterday.
According to police, four officers were conducting surveillance at about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday in the complex at 12639 80th Ave., when they spotted a brown 1992 Honda Accord that had been reported stolen.
The man tried to flee and smashed the Accord into one of the cruisers. An officer then shot him in the upper body, likely the face or neck, said Sgt. Peter Thiessen in a release.
Yesterday, broken auto glass was scattered in the alleyway and there were orange police markings on the asphalt.
Oneal Mendoza, a martial arts instructor, was teaching a class in one of the warehouses when he heard honking, screeching tires and the collision.
“(He was) trying to get out, trying to veer his way out of the alley, hitting the bins and whatnot,” Mendoza said.
He added he peeked through the door and saw a police officer with his gun drawn and heard someone yell, “Stop, I’m a cop.”
Mendoza retreated from the doorway and crouched under a wooden bench.
He said he heard six to eight gunshots. Afterwards, he heard one of the officers say the man had a pulse and radio for an ambulance.
Thiessen said the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was the lead investigative unit in the incident and would be monitored by an independent observer from the chair for the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.
