Police incident unfolding in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Vancouver police are usually not confirming something presently, however witnesses allege police shot a person on Hastings Road.

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One man has been shot in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in what authorities verify to be a police-involved taking pictures.

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Const. Tania Visintin, a spokesperson for the Vancouver police, couldn’t verify particulars from an eyewitness that instructed Postmedia a person hit a VPD automobile with a rod-like object earlier than an officer fired his gun.

All Visintin may say was that they’re coping with “an unfolding state of affairs” on Hastings Road.

“As quickly as I get all the data, I’ll ship one thing out,” she stated, in an e-mail early Saturday.

Jerret Veinot, who lives within the Downtown Eastside, instructed Postmedia that upon listening to a banging sound come up at Columbia and Hastings avenue Saturday morning, they ran to see what was the commotion.

“I noticed a person strike a police automobile then drop what seemed like a stick,” the 32-year-old described. “Two officers received out of the automobile. One from the passenger facet raised his gun and shot him two occasions within the chest.”

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One other witness, Corwin Lumley, described the incident as scary.

“The police officer was aiming at his higher physique,” he instructed Postmedia.

Safety video of the incident — despatched anonymously to Postmedia — reveals a police cruiser trailing a person who’s strolling down Hastings Road earlier than it stops and two officers emerge; one from both facet of the automobile. The person is then seen operating down the road previous the officer on the passenger facet of the automobile earlier than returning to face the officers and falling to the bottom.

Pictures and movies captured, shared on social media, present the person mendacity on the bottom of the intersection and several other cops surrounding him.

Trey Helten, a neighborhood hurt discount employee who approached the scene after pictures have been fired, yelled at police gathered on the intersection: “Why’d you shoot him?” He recorded his query to officers on his cellphone.

An officer in plain garments shouted again, saying it was as a result of the person had stabbed somebody.

There isn’t a phrase but on the situation of the person, though in response on Twitter, the Vancouver Police Division stated “the suspect” isn’t lifeless and is being handled for “non-life-threatening accidents.”

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The Impartial Investigations Workplace has been known as in, confirming with Postmedia that it has “deployed investigators to a police-involved taking pictures in Vancouver.”

Police say there isn’t a public security danger.

Extra to return …

—with information from Tiffany Crawford

ticrawford@postmedia.com