Vancouver police officers cleared over fatal 2023 shooting of youth with air pistol

British Columbia’s independent police watchdog agency has cleared Vancouver police officers of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a youth in 2023.

The Independent Investigations Office says the shooting at Clinton Park in East Vancouver on Aug. 5, 2023, happened after the youth pointed a replica air pistol handgun at officers.

IIO Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund says she found it “difficult to reconcile police accounts of the incident with the objective evidence,” specifically reports of a “muzzle flash” from the shooter that an expert says cannot be produced by an air pistol.