BC police watchdog orders administrative review in ex-soldier’s shooting

SURREY, B.C. – British Columbia’s police watchdog has ordered a third-party review of the agency’s investigation into the death of a retired soldier shot by RCMP.

Greg Matters was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder in September 2012 when he was shot at the home he shared with his mother near Prince George, B.C.

The Independent Investigations Office issued a report in April 2013, clearing officers of criminal wrongdoing.

That report said Matters was shot in the chest but a pathologist testified later at a coroner’s inquest that Matters was shot in the back.

The office released a supplemental report last week that blamed the discrepancy on the use of unclear language in the report but upheld the earlier finding that the officers committed no criminal wrongdoing.

The office’s chief civilian director Richard Rosenthal says he received a complaint about the investigation and has now appointed Vancouver-based lawyer Mark Jette to conduct the administrative review and submit his report to the province’s deputy attorney general and director of police services.