Person Found Dead After Fire at Homeless Encampment in Surrey

A person was found dead after a fire at an encampment of unhoused people in Surrey on the morning of April 25, 2022. Surrey Fire Service report that fire occurred on 120 Street (Scott Road) near 88 Avenue. The BC Coroners Service and fire crews are undertaking an investigation.

The person has not been identified and no report had been made on the cause of death. It has not been reported if anyone else was injured or how the fire was started.

Unhoused people have long been targeted by police and bylaw enforcement officers in Surrey. This includes the closing of the longstanding encampment on the Strip (135A Street) in the Whalley neighborhood which displaced and dispersed people. Many residents of the Strip warned at the time that this would make people more vulnerable.  

RCMP Shoot and Kill a Man on April 1, 2022

Surrey RCMP shot and killed a man in the morning of April 1, 2022. Reports on the killing by police are sketchy and rather conflictual. 

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) reports that RCMP received several calls about a man alleged to be involved in various incidents, including a carjacking. They reportedly spotted someone near the intersection of 142A Street and 87A Avenue who, for some reason, they believed to be the person involved in an earlier incident. Around 7 AM, RCMP claim officers took part in a foot pursuit of a man they believed matched the description of the person seen near 142A Street and 87A Avenue.

At some point there was unspecified “altercation,” and police shot the man. He was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead. None of the police claims have been confirmed. There have been reports of a carjacking but no confirmation that there was a carjacking or that the person killed was involved in one.

RCMP in Surrey have history of presenting false statements immediately after they kill someone. When they killed Nona McEwan and Randy Crosson in 2019, they made statements suggesting Crosson killed McEwan, when they knew both victims had been shot and only RCMP had guns at the scene. When they killed Hudson Brooks in 2015, they suggested there had been a shootout, when they knew that only police had weapons and an RCMP officer had shot themself in panic.

There have been at least four police-involved deaths in Surrey in less than a year.