Three people are dead hours after police responded to a “neighbourhood dispute” in the Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge, RCMP say.
Officers first responded to reports of a neighbour dispute in the 11800 block of 239 Street in Maple Ridge at approximately 6:40 p.m. on July 23. Police spoke to “several individuals” but no arrests were made, according to RCMP.
Maple Ridge Fire Department notified police several hours later of a vehicle fire and a break and enter in progress in the same area, RCMP said. Subsequent callers reported shots fired just before 11 p.m. in the same location.
RCMP officers responded and found two vehicles and the attached garage on fire. They also found a man and woman in their 60s and a dog dead inside the home, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) told The Epoch Times in an email.
Authorities believed the suspect was armed with a weapon in a neighbouring house, leading police to create a containment zone, the RCMP said.
Entry was made into the home with the help of the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team, where another person was found deceased after 2 a.m., according to the Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia (IIO BC).
The IIO BC is investigating police actions in the incident, the agency said in an email. It noted that the third individual appeared to have died from self-inflicted wounds.
IIO BC is a civilian-led agency that investigates the actions or inactions of police when there is an incident involving serious harm or death.
The RCMP said IHIT officers are investigating the deaths of the two people inside the first home. Investigators said the incident is believed to be a “targeted and isolated” incident resulting from a dispute.
“IHIT would like to extend our thoughts to the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased,” Cpl. Sukhi Dhesi with IHIT said. “This was a tragic incident that has had a significant impact on the families, community and first responders.”
The area was cordoned off for the investigation once the Maple Ridge Fire Department extinguished the fires, police said.
The IIO BC is asking witnesses that may have video footage of the incident to contact them.
