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WARNING: This story contains details about a fatal police-involved shooting and threats of suicide and self-harm.
The B.C. Coroners Service will begin an inquest next year into the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Surrey in February.
B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General announced the inquest on Monday, less than a week after the province’s Independent Investigations Office (IIO) cleared members of the RCMP in the Feb. 9 death of Chase de Balinhard.
According to an IIO report released on Dec. 4, police responded to a 911 call from de Balinhard saying he had a firearm and was threatening to harm himself.
The report indicated de Balinhard had autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and had told the 911 operator that he did not trust police.
It stated B.C. RCMP officers responded along with Car 67 — the police mental health outreach unit that includes a mental health nurse — but two officers shot at the teen after he pointed what appeared to be a gun.
It was later determined to be a replica.
The Grade 10 student was declared dead at the scene. While the IIO report did not name de Balinhard, family later identified him as the teen who was shot.
In its report, the IIO determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe police officers committed any offence in the shooting.
“The responding officers were acting in the lawful execution of their duty in attempting to apprehend the [teen], who was reasonably understood to be in possession of a loaded firearm and intending to harm himself with it in a public place,” the report read.
A coroner’s inquest aims to determine facts related to a death, make recommendations to prevent similar deaths and to ensure public confidence in the process.
Such inquests are mandatory under the Coroners Act whenever a person dies while detained by or in custody of law enforcement. They do not assign fault.
The release says a presiding coroner and a jury will hear evidence from witnesses under oath, but it does specify the exact date for when the inquest will take place.
Family and friends of Chase de Balinhard, the 15-year-old who was shot and killed after a confrontation with Surrey police on Sunday, gather to remember the teen at a vigil in the Clayton Heights neighbourhood.
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