Transit police upset after judge rules shooter guilty of assault charge only
A man who shot a Transit Police officer at a SkyTrain station in Surrey last year has been acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of the lesser offence of aggravated assault.
The Metro Vancouver Transit Police say they're “very disappointed” with the verdict for Daon
Gordon Glasgow, 37, who shot Const. Josh Harms at the Scott Road SkyTrain station on Jan. 30, 2019.
“We have requested transcripts so that we can fully review and hopefully come to some kind of understanding of why this decision was made,” Transit Police spokesman Sgt. Clint Hampton said Monday. “What I have to say is, it's hard to imagine how someone can point a gun at a police officer, pull the trigger, and not be found guilty of attempted murder.”
The trial heard that at the time of the shooting, Harms and another officer were on duty investigating “suspicious” persons when they spotted Glasgow in a parking lot south of the SkyTrain station.
Glasgow was looking directly at Harms and held his gaze. The two officers concluded the accused had identified them as police officers.
When Glasgow began walking away from them, continually looking back over his shoulder before starting to run toward the station, they gave pursuit.
Glasgow, who has a lengthy criminal record, including a conviction for manslaughter arising from a prior shooting, pushed through a fare gate without paying and went up an escalator to the platform.
He removed a blue hoodie he was wearing and sat down on a seat to wait for the next train when Harms approached him on foot. Glasgow pulled a gun out of his waistband and opened fire.
Harms was hit twice, once in his right arm and once in his left hand. He turned around, crouched and retreated from Glasgow, who reacted by running in the same direction as the officer, pointing the gun at him, before running down the escalator and out of the station.
Glasgow, who was on parole at the time for the manslaughter conviction and living in a halfway house, fled the scene. Police launched a massive manhunt and Glasgow was arrested five days later.
Harms had surgery to remove a bullet from his right arm. His left hand suffered significant but not debilitating damage. He's back at work.
The Crown argued that the only reasonable inference from the evidence was that Glasgow intended to kill the officer.
The prosecution argued he was desperate to avoid police because he was carrying a loaded gun and was unlawfully at large from the halfway house. If police were to discover him, he would be returned to prison.
Glasgow said he panicked when he saw the police officers and his only thought was to get away, and that he did not intend to kill Harms when he shot him.
In his ruling on the case, Provincial Court Judge Peder Gulbransen noted that the burden of the Crown to prove a charge of attempted murder is particularly onerous.
“The shots never struck the officer in a vital part of his body. There was no background of animosity between the officers and Glasgow,” the judge said.
The B.C. Prosecution Service said it will review the decision to determine whether to initiate an appeal.