Did Surrey RCMP Kill Two People? Still No Answers

It has now been three weeks since RCMP in Surrey were involved in a shooting in which two people were left dead and few details have been released publicly. It has been reported that police fired shots during what has been called an alleged hostage taking (by the man who was killed) on March 29, 2019. The Independent Investigations Office (IIO), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in British Columbia, has stated that the victims were a man and a woman who knew each other. Friends and family of the woman who was killed have identified her as Nona McEwan. The man has been identified as Randy Crosson. It has been reported too that they had a child together.


What is not known after nearly a month is what role police played in the killings. There has been some speculation that police killed both people in a discharge of gunfire.


An information bulletin put out by the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) reports that the man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman died at hospital (with neither named in the bulletin). At the scene, the IIO also said that shots were fired by members of the Emergency Response Team. According to the IIO, as reported in the Surrey Now-Leader:


“The cause of the injuries to both persons are yet to be confirmed. We’re not sure if the female was killed by shots, we’re still trying to determine what caused her injuries and what led to her death. We do know that police took shots but we don’t know if they’re the ones that caused the injuries to the male.”



When asked if he could say conclusively that a police bullet did not hit Nona McEwan, the Now-Leader reports that Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Corporal Frank Jang replied:


“No, I mean that’s all part of the investigation that’s happening now. There will be updates coming forth from the IIO but all those details, the exact mechanism, entries, where the shots came from, that’s all going to be part of the investigation. I can’t comment further because it’s still ongoing.”



Surrey deserves better than this. Families, friends, and community members deserve better than this when police commit acts of violence in our communities.


Unfortunately, there are no mechanisms to compel police to provide information publicly or even participate in investigations. The IIO relies on police for training and uses former officers in investigations, so they are in no way truly independent.