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Audio of 2015 South Surrey police-shooting death posted online

Officer recorded saying she thinks she shot herself
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A number of rallies and vigils have been held since the July 2015 police-shooting death of Hudson Brooks.

A police audio recording from the morning Hudson Brooks was shot and killed by the RCMP in 2015 confirms that the South Surrey man “did not stand a chance,” his mother says.

“Within four seconds of them approaching Hudson he was shot! You can not hear a word from Hudson. The officer did not say a word, not stop put your hands up nothing! Just shot him down!” Brooks’ mother wrote on the Justice for Hudson Facebook page Wednesday.

Last Friday, a YouTube user posted an audio recording identified as an exchange between emergency officials on the morning Brooks was killed. The recording includes a statement by a female officer indicating “(I) think I shot myself.”

Brooks, who would have turned 22 Thursday, died around 2:30 a.m. on July 18, 2015, after what police initially described as a physical struggle outside of the South Surrey RCMP detachment.

His mother learned more details of the incident in August 2016, when officials with the Independent Investigations Office told her that her son had been unarmed and was shot at close range – not by officers who initially responded to the report by vehicle, but when he ran up to two other officers who had come out of the District 5 office.

Two months later, the IIO announced that a report would be filed to Crown Counsel “for consideration of charges” in connection with Brooks’ death – a step “required when the chief civilian director considers that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment,” a news release at the time stated.

Jennifer Brooks could not be reached Thursday morning for comment on additional details revealed in the recording. However, in her Facebook post she writes that she learned of the online post Tuesday, in a call from the IIO. She went home immediately to hear it for herself.

“To say this is the most devastating thing I have ever listened to is an understatement,” she writes.

“This audio is so heartbreaking; such an excessive use of force.”

In the recording, a woman who appears to be a dispatcher describes a young, blond male walking down the middle of the road near 154 Street and 18 Avenue wearing only shorts “yelling kill me, kill me, kill me.”

The male was reported by a woman who said she was woken from her sleep and “thought he was high on drugs,” the dispatcher states.

A male officer is heard stating he has Brooks in sight and the young man is “coming directly at me.”

“I need help now, I need help now,” the officer states.

Seconds later, a male voice yells “shots fired, shots fired,” followed by “shots fired, one male down, we need EHS here Code 3.”

Officials with the IIO told Peace Arch News Thursday that the organization alerted Brooks’ family as soon as it was aware that the audio had been made public, and has asked through legal counsel to have the video removed from YouTube, given Crown’s ongoing consideration of charges.

Investigation is also underway into how the audio became public.

“It does not appear that the source of this information is in any way linked to the IIO, particularly as the YouTube channel hosts content which may be gathered using radio scanners and content which is unrelated to IIO investigations has also been posted,” IIO communications liaison Aidan Buckley said by email.

“That being said, the IIO and other agencies that had access to this information are conducting rigorous privacy investigations.”

Crown Counsel spokesperson Dan McLaughlin said it would be inappropriate to comment prior to Crown’s conclusion of its charge assessment.

 



Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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