B.C. Coroners Service announced last week an inquest into the shooting death of Ryan Jacob has been scheduled for this summer.
Forty-five-year-old Jacob was shot three times by a Burnaby RCMP officer last year after allegedly threatening the officer with two knives.
On Jan. 31, 2013 police were called to Hastings Street and MacDonald Avenue following a report of a man wielding a knife and uttering threats, stated a report by Richard Rosenthal, chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.
Jacob had been at a friend's home when he began threatening her with a knife. According to the report, the friend called 911 and several Burnaby RCMP officers were dispatched to the 4100 block of Albert Street where they located Jacob.
During the confrontation, Jacob allegedly ignored Mounties' warnings to drop the knives he was holding and instead encroached on one of the responding officers.
According to the independent investigations' report, the officer shot Jacob three times in self-defence.
Investigators with the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. were deployed shortly before 2 a.m. when Burnaby RCMP notified the office that a suspect, Jacob, had died in hospital after being shot by police.
Following the investigation, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. determined the Burnaby RCMP officer who shot Jacob had not committed an offence and therefore didn't warrant any charges by Crown counsel.
While no charges were ever laid against the officer, the Coroners Service is required by law to hold an inquest into any death "if the deceased was in the care or control of a police officer or in a police lock-up at the time of their death," according to the Coroners Act.
Jacob was the son of Squamish First Nation chief Gilbert "Gibby" Jacob and Vivian Jacob.
The coroner's inquest is scheduled for July 28 in Burnaby. Presided over by coroner Nico Newell, witnesses will present evidence concerning Jacob's death. At the end of the inquest, the jury will have an opportunity to make recommendations "aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances in the future," stated a release from the Coroners Service.
