Witnesses describe frightening lunch-hour scene at busy North Vancouver, B.C., plaza

People who at a North Vancouver plaza over the lunch hour described a knife-wielding man who was ultimately involved in a confrontation with police.

Mounties in North Vancouver, B.C., are investigating a “serious incident” at Westview Plaza Monday afternoon.

Around 2:30 p.m., a spokesperson for the North Vancouver RCMP confirmed that police were on scene and urged the public to avoid the area “until further notice.”

No additional information has been provided by the RCMP since its initial statement.

CTV News has spoken to witnesses and viewed CCTV video that suggests a man—potentially wielding a weapon—was involved in a confrontation with police in the plaza’s parking lot. A Taser appears to have been deployed by officers, and witnesses are claiming the man was ultimately shot.

Arman Abavi was one of the people who was inside a McDonald’s in the shopping centre over the busy lunch hour when the incident began to unfold. He said he saw a man who was not an employee behind the counter of the fast-food eatery.

“He pulls out a knife, and puts one of the employees in a headlock,” Abavi said, adding that he and other patrons intervened to disarm the man but were unable to subdue him.

Bahman Afshari, who works in the plaza, said the man was “shot” after he tried to flee in an RCMP vehicle after leaving the McDonald’s.

“It’s terrible,” he said.

CCTV video shows a man opening the unlocked driver’s side door of an unoccupied 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, has been notified, a statement to CTV News confirmed.