{"id":29065,"date":"2014-10-16T23:48:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T15:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=29065"},"modified":"2014-10-16T20:05:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T12:05:12","slug":"friends-of-fugitive-gunman-shot-by-police-in-b-c-say-he-was-harmless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/16\/friends-of-fugitive-gunman-shot-by-police-in-b-c-say-he-was-harmless\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends of fugitive gunman shot by police in B.C. say he was harmless"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Peter<\/a>
Peter DeGroot, 45, was killed Monday, five days after an exchange of gunfire with police when Mounties responded to a dispute between two people. Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SLOCAN, B.C.\u2014Friends of a fugitive gunman shot to death by police near the village of Slocan, B.C., are expressing their grief and anger over what they consider a tragic end to the man\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Peter DeGroot, 45, was killed Monday, five days after an exchange of gunfire with police when Mounties responded to a dispute between two people.<\/p>\n

DeGroot fled into the woods, triggering an influx of officers, helicopters and search dogs to the community where residents were told to stay indoors.<\/p>\n

RCMP said DeGroot was found by police Monday in a cabin near a gravel pit and shot and killed following an \u201cinteraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeGroot\u2019s supporters have set up a memorial page on Facebook, saying he was harmless.<\/p>\n

Patrik Kapuscinsky said DeGroot suffered from ill health and was doing the best he could under extreme financial stress.<\/p>\n

In a posting, he said that police should have waited DeGroot out, handled the situation in a more humane and diplomatic way and given him the help he needed.<\/p>\n

The shooting is being investigated by B.C.\u2019s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office. Few details have been released about the circumstances surrounding DeGroot\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IIO investigation is still in its early stages and investigators are expected to be in the area this week,\u201d spokesman Owen Court said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIIO resources include a team director, three investigators and a forensic specialist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to this, the IIO will provide dedicated services to assist the family of the deceased affected person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency said there is no timeline for when it will complete its report.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than a few of us are deeply suspect of the way this all went down,\u201d Delaine Hird wrote in a posting on the memorial page.<\/p>\n

DeGroot\u2019s neighbours described him as a loner who was committed to his animals including cows, pigs, a goat and chickens. His financial troubles meant he was living in a van and having trouble feeding them.<\/p>\n

Janni Joy said people want to know the truth about what led to DeGroot\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect the RCMP were concerned about another Moncton initially,\u201d she said, referring to the shootings of five Mounties in New Brunswick in June by 24-year-old Justin Bourque, who killed three officers and injured two after they responded to reports of an armed man dressed in camouflage.<\/p>\n

Antonia Crossley, who owns a restaurant in Slocan, said she didn\u2019t know DeGroot but that diners have had mixed feelings about the police action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we heard was that he died of gunshot wounds. We never heard if he fired first. All they said was they found a firearm. What does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice had only one thing in mind: to secure the place and protect citizens. But whether it was necessary to end up like this is a big question mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends who knew DeGroot from Victoria in the 1990s are sorry they didn\u2019t keep in touch.<\/p>\n

Murray Campbell said he wrote letters to the man he described as a trapper and homesteader.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had a true heart and wanted a more just society, a more just world. I knew your mind was troubled and I wish I had been there more for you,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SLOCAN, B.C.\u2014Friends of a fugitive gunman shot to death by police near the village of Slocan, B.C., are expressing their …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","mauthors-bill-graveland","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}