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Family keeps fighting for justice in RCMP shooting death of Maple Ridge man

Kyaw Din was shot and killed by the Ridge Meadows RCMP in August
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Kyaw Din was shot and killed by the Ridge Meadows RCMP in August, 2019. (Contributed)

A Maple Ridge family whose brother was shot and killed by the Ridge Meadows RCMP last year will be presenting thousands of signatures on Thursday to the Independent Investigations Office in Surrey, calling for a continuation of the investigation into his death.

Kyaw Din’s family will be delivering a petition with more than 1,000 signatures to the IIO to continue their Justice for Kyaw campaign.

The Dins want the IIO to recommend murder charges for both RCMP officers responsible for Kyaw’s death, and they also want to know the names of the officers who killed him.

On Aug. 11, 2019, Kyaw Din, a Burmese man who suffered from schizophrenia, was fatally shot in his home on Colemore Street by the Ridge Meadows RCMP after his family called 911 to request a ride to the hospital.

Officers were responding to a call for what police said was a “reported domestic dispute”.

Police had taken Kyaw, an immigrant from Myanmar with limited English, to the hospital many times in the past when he needed treatment for mental health problems, said his sister Yin Yin during a rally in Maple Ridge in October.

At the rally, she said, police first used a conducted energy weapon, and then shot her brother three times.

Kyaw’s older brother Hla Din also demanded that the officer in charge of the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment, Supt. Jennifer Hyland, resign, and demanded police no longer respond to mental health calls.

A police statement indicated Din had a weapon when he was shot.

“Officers entered the residence and located three individuals, one of which had a knife. During the course of the interaction, a conducted energy weapon was deployed but was not successful, and another police officer fired their gun,” said BC RCMP communications director Dawn Roberts at the time.

The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in B.C.. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.

Feb. 20 would have been Kyaw Din’s 55th birthday.


 

cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com

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Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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