By: Korie Marshall
RCMP announced on Monday a suspect involved in a days-long lockdown of the community of Slocan Lake, north of Castlegar, is dead.
On Oct. 9th, RCMP issued an advisory for Slocan Lake, saying they were dealing with a serious police incident and asked that residents stay indoors.
On Oct. 10th, RCMP said they continue to search for a suspect alleged to have fired at police on Thursday afternoon. The release said Slocan/New Denver RCMP responded on Thursday to a dispute between two people on Slocan West Road, and one man fired on police with a rifle escaped into the forest. No one was injured in the incident, but police established an area of containment west of the village of Slocan, and evacuated nearby homes. Air support and the Southeast District Emergency Response Team were called in.
Police confirmed on Friday the suspect they were searching for was 45-year-old Peter Degroot of Slocan.
On Monday, Oct. 13th, C/Supt. Frank Smart, Southeast District Commander, issued a statement saying two members of the Emergency Response Team were conducting a search of a cabin, and had an interaction with the subject of the search.
“We can confirm the suspect is now deceased,” said C/Supt. Smart in the statement. No officers or members of the public were injured. The Independent Investigations Office of BC has been called in.
“The scene has been secured awaiting the arrival of the IIO BC. As per any IIO BC investigation those present during the major police incident are now subjects of the independent investigation,” said Smart.
There has been no statement yet from RCMP on the death of John Beuhler, which occurred as a result of a shoot-out with the Emergency Response Team on Sept. 17th, south of Valemount. The IIO is still investigating that incident, and has not released any further information.
