Family and friends of a woman who was fatally shot by police in Surrey early Thursday morning say they’ve been left with many questions about what happened.
RCMP and the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) say police were called to a disturbance at a home on 180A Street near 62 Avenue in Cloverdale.
Investigators said the woman had locked herself in a room and was holding an unspecified weapon near a toddler.
About an hour after Mounties arrived, police shot the woman following an “interaction.” The child was unhurt.
The woman’s church community has identified her as Vanessa Valencia.
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Members of the Citywide Christ Church are now questioning how the situation was handled.
Church pastor Gaston Ntabaza said Valencia’s husband had called 911 after an argument and needed help to calm her down. He said her husband insisted she had no weapon and posed no threat to her one-year-old child.
“They have a lot of resources they can use to de-escalate the situation,” he said.
“She really loved so much this baby. There is no way this woman can become a predator, I don’t see these things happen, Vanessa, to harm the baby.”
Global News has heard a chilling recording from the scene of a woman who appears to be yelling “God does not exist” repeatedly in Spanish.
Neighbours told Global News they heard multiple commands being yelled including “drop the knife,” and “drop the scissors,” adding the situation went on for at least 30 minutes before the deadly shots were fired.
“Police have a lot of tools they could use, and I think shooting a mother dead holding her baby while her whole family is there, I think that was a little bit excessive force,” neighbour Keegan Marhall said.
Valencia’s pastor said she had experienced a mental health crisis the day before she died, prompting police to look for her Wednesday evening after friends called 911 to report she had thoughts of suicide.
Friends told Global News they don’t know if Valencia, a recant arrival from Colombia, even knew what was going on during the confrontation with police.
“Vanessa has zero, zero English communication skills,” Ntabaza said.
Surrey RCMP is not commenting now that the file is being probed by the IIO.
The IIO declined an on-camera interview.
Services for Valencia are scheduled at the Citywide Christ Church Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
— with files from Rumina Daya
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
