Suspect in Slocan shootout dead
After residents endured lockdown, RCMP say there is no longer any danger
SLOCAN CITY — The subject of a police manhunt in southern British Columbia after an exchange of gunfire in the tiny village of Slocan last week is dead and there is no longer any danger to the community, RCMP said late Monday.
Police said they discovered Peter DeGroot, 45, Monday afternoon in the vicinity of the village in the West Kootenay region, but they refused to disclose whether further shots were fired.
Chief Superintendent Frank Smart said at 1: 20 p. m., two members of the RCMP’s emergency response team were near a gravel pit conducting a search of a cabin when they found the man.
“Upon entering the cabin there was an interaction between the subject of the ongoing search and the two ERT members,” Smart said in a statement at the RCMP’s regional headquarters Monday night. “We can confirm the suspect is now deceased.”
Residents, who had endured a villagewide lockdown after the initial incident, reported earlier Monday the town’s mood had relaxed and guests had arrived from out of town to celebrate Thanksgiving. Upon learning of the outcome, they once again felt the severity of the situation.
“I’m shocked beyond belief,” said Antonia Crossley, owner of the Harold Street Cafe. “I feel for the family. It’s really, really sad, regardless of what happened. A loss is a loss.
“I was hoping that if they ever find him that he would come in peacefully. Somebody always belongs to somebody.”
A woman who answered the phone at the local market gasped and simply said “that’s amazing” when she heard the news.
B. C.’ s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, has been called to the scene, as it is any time someone is killed or severely injured as a result of police involvement. Few details of the events leading to DeGroot’s death could be released to avoid compromising the watchdog’s investigation, Smart said.
Police were removing all roadblocks and other restrictions to the community, and residents were no longer in danger, he added. Police were helping members of DeGroot’s family, as well as the two officers involved in Monday’s incident, Smart said.
Neighbours reported DeGroot had fallen on hard times and was scared about being evicted from his modest property.
They said he kept to himself, and was usually only seen tending a ragtag bunch of farm animals.