Police shoot, kill stabbing suspect in Surrey park

Surrey police say a suspect stabbed two people in an assault near Holland Park Friday afternoon. He was then fatally shot by police in the park.

A provincial watchdog is investigating after police shot and killed a suspect in a Surrey, B.C., park Friday afternoon—in an incident that was partly captured on video.

The shooting happened in Holland Park, where officers from the Surrey Police Service surrounded a man wearing a white hat and backpack around 1:30 p.m.

Video obtained by CTV News shows the man being shot with an unconfirmed weapon, then walking away. Officers then fire more rounds at him while pursuing him with a police dog.

One witness told CTV News the police used beanbag rounds then “actual bullets.”

“They shot him in the leg, four times,” the witness said. “Then they took him down.”

In a statement issued late Friday night, the SPS said the man was suspected of stabbing two people at a building in the 13300 block of Old Yale Road around 1 p.m.

One of the stabbing victims was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said, adding that the suspect was no longer present when they arrived.

Officers located him a short distance away, and the confrontation in Holland Park ensued. The suspect was seriously injured in the police shooting and taken to hospital, where he died, police said.

The Independent Investigations Office, which is tasked with reviewing all police-involved incidents that result in death or serious harm, is now investigating.

In its own statement, the IIO asked anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about it to contact its witness line at 1-855-446-8477 or use the contact form on its website.

The Lower Mainland’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the fatal stabbing case, police said.

Friday’s incident marked Surrey’s second police-involved shooting this week.

The other happened as officers were responding to a call about a man “reportedly attempting to possibly break into” a home on Southpark Crescent on Monday evening, according to a previous statement from the IIO.

In a news release the day after the incident, the Surrey Police Service said the suspect “reportedly confronted” officers on scene prior to the shooting, and that he was taken to hospital with injuries of “unknown severity.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Isabella Zavarise