The provincial Independent Investigations Office will be looking into an incident near Lake Cowichan where a man died on Tuesday, Nov. 29, RCMP said in a press release Wednesday afternoon.
At about 2:30 p.m., North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP got a report of an armed robbery at a business north of Duncan. Officers were able to locate the vehicle that the suspect left in, but lost sight of it as it travelled though Duncan.
The Island District RCMP Emergency Response Team were engaged and at 4 p.m. they located the vehicle parked east of Lake Cowichan, the release said. No movement was seen inside, and at approximately 4:45 p.m. officers approached the vehicle and found one deceased man with what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds.
The incident closed Highway 18 in both directions between Youbou Road and Hall Road for seven hours as a snowstorm raged. Traffic was re-routed along the old highway from about 5 p.m. until midnight.
IIO BC will now investigate to determine whether police actions of inactions are related to the man’s death.
“As the matter is now under investigation by the IIO BC, no further information will be released by police,” RCMP said.
⛔CLOSED - #BCHwy18 - Police incident between Youbou road and #BCHwy1 has the highway closed in BOTH directions.
— DriveBC VI (@DriveBC_VI) November 30, 2022
Assessment in progress. Watch for crews and expect delays.
More info: https://t.co/BObQ1K2Dbg#DuncanBC #LakeCowichanBC #VanIsle
A separate crash along the road did occur as a result of the weather.
✅CLEAR - #BCHwy18 - Police incident between #LakeCowichanBC and Skutz Falls road has been cleared. The highway is FULLY OPEN.#DuncanBC #VanIsle
— DriveBC VI (@DriveBC_VI) November 30, 2022
