The loved ones of an Indigenous man who was shot dead by Campbell River RCMP officers in 2021 say they’re not done fighting after it was announced no charges would be laid against the three officers involved.
Jared Lowndes’ father, Donald, says the family believes the BC Prosecution Service was biased in favour of the RCMP.
“Getting through holidays like Christmas, their grandmother, my mother, she’s been crying ever since. It’s affected her health, it’s really affected our family,” he said of Jared’s death.
The 38-year-old was shot in July of 2021. Police had said an officer “attempted to stop a vehicle in relation to an outstanding warrant,” and claim Lowndes didn’t stop. The man’s vehicle was eventually “boxed in” by a police cruiser, after which point the RCMP says a “confrontation occurred between the suspect and the police officer, who had a Police Service Dog.”
“During the interaction, the Police Service Dog was stabbed and killed, and the suspect was shot and was pronounced deceased on scene,” the Campbell River RCMP said at the time.
Jared left behind two children.
On Tuesday, the BCPS said it had concluded “the available evidence does not meet the BCPS’s charge assessment standard.”
“The BCPS is not able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers committed any offence in relation to the incident. As a result, no charges have been approved,” the service explained.
The decision was made despite the Independent Investigations Office recommending criminal charges be filed. The IIO had said “there were reasonable grounds to believe the officers may have committed offences.”
“We believe the entire situation was instigated and escalated by the RCMP, it was handled incompetently, recklessly, and the end result was my son being shot,” Donald Lowndes told CityNews Wednesday.
“It’s really affected everyone and there has to be accountability. I really believe that the actions of the RCMP could have been handled different.”
Donald says a prosecutor shouldn’t have the same weight as a judge and jury in making decisions like this.
In the wake of Jared’s death and the deaths of other Indigenous people at the hands of officers, calls grew for more police oversight.