Man wielding knife shot dead by Port Hardy RCMP

Port Hardy RCMP shot and killed a knife-wielding man Wednesday in an incident now being investigated by B.C.’s civilian police watchdog.

The man was shot shortly after 11 a.m.

The Independent Investigations Office took over the case late in the afternoon.

Witnesses could see the body on the ground covered in a sheet on Granville Street between Highway 19 and Thunderbird Way, where it remained for much of the day.

RCMP were called to the grounds of Port Hardy Secondary School around 11 a.m. when a man started making threats toward security staff at a firefighting staging area, used for helicopters and crews battling forest fires in the area, B.C. RCMP Insp. Ed Boettcher said in a statement.

“Reports indicated that the suspect was brandishing a knife,” Boettcher said.

Mounties responded and located the man near the intersection of Granville Street and Highway 19.

“A confrontation occurred and shots were fired by police,” Boettcher said.

An employee at the Port Hardy Inn said she heard police yell “drop the knife, drop the knife” before hearing three gunshots.

The employee, who only gave her first name as Missy, said she went outside to see police kick the knife away from the man’s hand. B.C. Ambulance paramedics arrived but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cory Klassen, who works at E.J. Klassen Motorcade on Granville Street, said he heard five or six shots and looked out his second-floor office window.

Klassen saw the man lying in the middle of the road and two Mounties standing nearby, one of whom had his gun drawn.

He said there were two police cruisers in the area but the man appeared to be on foot.

The dead man’s name has not been released.

No officers or members of the public were injured, and police say the Independent Investigations Office will conduct an investigation, which is mandatory in any officer-related shooting.

Police say they will not make any further comment on the shooting because of the IIO investigation.