The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), the civilian police watchdog has cleared the Penticton RCMP officer who fatally shot a man in October 2024.
The shooting closed a block of Penticton's Government Street for multiple hours on Oct. 22, with the IIO launching its investigation that day.
The final report, published April 25, was based on statements from 23 civilian witnesses, six RCMP witnesses, audio recordings, video recordings from the officer's vehicle dash cameras, CCTV footage from the area as well as from BC Transit and City of Penticton traffic cameras, 3D scans of the scene and further forensic examination.
The IIO deemed that the immediate danger to the officer, without provocation and potentially deadly, meant that there were no reasonable grounds for charging the officer for the shooting.
"There is no evidence of anything done by the [subject officer] to provoke what witnesses described as an almost immediate assault by the [affected person] on the SO," the IIO wrote in the report. "That assault, which became a pursuit of the SO with a potentially deadly weapon at very close range, clearly presented a threat of death or grievous bodily harm to the SO. The SO鈥檚 deployment of lethal force in response was justified and lawful."
According to the report, the RCMP were called at 3:13 p.m. by multiple people that the man, later identified by family as Matthew Murray, had been walking along Government Street carrying a knife and yelling and swearing.
One of the callers told the IIO that they believed Murray was suffering from some sort of hallucination at the time. Murray's brother Seth questioned the police's response and raised concerns over whether a response from the local Integrated Crisis Response Team would have left his brother alive.
The report from IIO does not discuss the broader response or whether the ICRT would have made a difference but focuses purely on whether charges were warranted over the officer's use of force.
About 12 minutes after the calls came in, the officer spotted Murray on the sidewalk from his cruiser. Putting his lights on, the officer pulled over and got out of his vehicle.
Multiple civilian witnesses said that as soon as the officer got out, Murray moved quickly towards the officer and appeared to push him, before continuing to advance with a raised knife as the officer retreated.
The officer backed around his police cruiser with his hands raised defensively, shouting at Murray to stop, before drawing his pistol.
The pair ended up circling the cruiser, and as they came around the front of the vehicle the dash camera captured the moment the officer fired, multiple rounds hitting Murray but not stopping his pursuit as he continued advancing until they exited the video frame.
More shots are heard before Murray drops to the ground. Despite being taken to the hospital nearby, he was declared dead shortly after his arrival.
The officer was also treated for a wound to his hand.
