A man shot by police during a chaotic confrontation Tuesday afternoon at North Vancouver’s Westview Shopping Centre has died in hospital. North Vancouver RCMP responded around 1 p.m. after reports of a man wielding an edged weapon at a McDonalds within the plaza. CTV News spoke with Arman Abadi who said he was inside the fast food restaurant at the time, and saw a man who was not an employee behind the counter. “He pulls out a knife, and puts one of the employees in a headlock,” Abadi said, adding that he and other patrons intervened to disarm the man but were unable to subdue him. Police say the man then left the restaurant and crashed a vehicle into other parked vehicles. They say he then left that vehicle and entered a police cruiser involved in the response. Bahman Afshari, who works in the plaza, said the man was shot after he tried to enter the police vehicle after leaving the McDonald’s – which police have since confirmed. “It’s terrible,” he said of the violent incident. Video provided to CTV News by Afshari shows a man opening the unlocked driver’s side door of an unoccupied RCMP cruiser. An officer deploys a Taser, but the man manages to get into the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Police prevent the man from closing the door and tell him to get out. One officer with a weapon drawn yells, “drop it.” A loud bang is heard, and the man falls to the ground. B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office, which is called in for police-involved incidents that result in death or serious harm was deployed to the scene Tuesday evening. The police watchdog is appealing for witnesses – especially those with video – to come forward.
