Gitxaan Shooting Leaves Plenty of Questions, Few Answers
By 250 News
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 09:47 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The police shooting of a Gitxaan man last month has the Gitxaan raising questions.
35 year old Rodney Shane Jackson was shot to death by RCMP September 26 north of Hazelton.
At the time of the shooting, Jackson was wanted for several warrants, all but one , according to Gitxaan Chief Negotiator, Beverly Clifton Percival, were for family matters. The warrants included charges of violence in relationship assault, uttering threats, obstructing a peace officer, trafficking of controlled substances, failure to attend court, and a family court matter.
“He was accused, not convicted of these claims, he was an innocent man, yet the RCMP labelled him as a dangerous person, but he was not feared in our community” said Clifton Percival on this morning’s Meisner program on CFISFM.
Jackson and his brother Sonny were at their grandfather’s cabin in the region, hunting when the RCMP’s ERT surrounded the cabin. According to RCMP, members of the North District Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Police Dog Service (PDS) set a perimeter around a remote wooded area and cabins early September 26th . According to police, Rodney Jackson and a second adult man, were located by the arrest team and both men were armed with long guns.
Police say Rodney Shane Jackson was shot by one of the arresting officers while the second male was taken into custody uninjured.
Clifton Percival says the Gitxaan have asked to have an observer to be involved in the investigation. While the RCMP have agreed, it has been a couple of weeks and there has been no word.
“All we have heard is what the RCMP put out immediately after the incident to paint Mr.Jackson in a poor light, and we haven’t heard anything about the final moments of Mr. Jackson’s life.”
Beverly Clifton Percival says the Gitxaan have plenty of questions “What changed, what changed in that magical moment when they decided he was a danger to society and that they publicized in their own terms that they considered him a danger, and then they bring in the ERT and there’s a loss of life, what justifies that? I woke up on a Saturday morning listening to helicopters thinking, what the heck? I started hearing the talk in town and much later that day, about 4:00, we hear there’s a death.”
“Policing is a community matter” says Clifton Percival “so why was no one in our community aware of the circumstances why was nobody directly, or indirectly informed of the actions that were going to be taken and nobody was informed directly afterwards why it even occurred?”
She says had Jackson been arrested, he would have had a bail hearing “In all likelihood he would have been granted bail with some strict restrictions, instead, we have a death.”
The investigation into this shooting is being conducted by E Division Major Crimes Unit and is being lead by an Inspector from the Delta Police department. A member of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP Independent Observer program is taking part to provide civilian oversight into the investigation.
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Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 13 2009 4:25 PM
It just seems like the RCMP is often showing up in a badlight for aggressive actions.
Has something change in Canadian society that we need a more aggresive response policy by police? Or am I just imagining that Stats Canada says crime is down and that the sky really is falling and we must become the American North Police State?
Maybe we should look to policing examles from Europe rather than a country with more police and more people in jail than almost any other country. Does violence beget violence?
Frank