B.C.'s police watchdog has cleared a Kamloops-area police officer of any wrongdoing in the 2022 shooting of a man on the side of Highway 5 in Louis Creek.
Daniel Gordon Shore was travelling north on Highway 5 from Kelowna to Williams Lake May 20, 2022, when he exited his vehicle on the side of the highway armed with a rifle. He was shot a short time later by Barriere RCMP Const. Jeremy Galvin.
Shore gave two accounts of his reason for exiting the vehicle to the Independent Investigations Office, one saying he pulled over to shoot a deer and a second where he left the vehicle after receiving a “time out” from his partner.
Shore’s partner told IIO that the man was “having a mental breakdown” before she stopped the vehicle and told him to exit. She did not recall the man having a rifle when he left.
Police were called to the location when a civilian reported a man had been dropped off on the side of the road and was in possession of an “assault-style” rifle. The gun was described in court as appearing similar to an AK-47 or an M-16, but it turned out to be a .22-calibre rifle.
Galvin shot Shore through his upper arm. Galvin applied a clotting agent to Shore’s wounds “in a life-saving measure,” according to the IIO report.
Two versions of events were given to IIO investigators.
In the first, Shore claims he had his rifle pointed at the ground when Galvin approached him nonchalantly before quickly pulling his firearm and shot him “gangster style” — with the firearm’s grip held horizontal.
In court, Galvin said he yelled orders for Shore to drop the rifle. According to Galvin’s account, Shore turned and cocked his weapon.
The report states Shore may have been trying to demonstrate that the rifle was unloaded by ejecting a round. However, the action caused Galvin to fire.
“I was quite certain that he appeared to be charging the bolt,” the constable said in court in November.
The IIO report said Galvin’s account is corroborated by the directionality of Shore’s bullet wound and a live .22-calibre round located on the ground. Additionally, the report states Shore’s recounting of the events are “inconsistent or unreliable in some respects.”
The report said a video analysis expert determined a dash camera in Galvin’s police vehicle was turned on but malfunctioned, failing to capture the incident. The expert concluded the failure to record the incident may have been caused by the camera’s hard drive being almost full.
“It is more likely than not that [Shore] raised his rifle in a way [Galvin] would reasonably have seen as threatening him with grievous bodily harm or death,” the report concludes.
“[Galvin]’s deployment of lethal force in response, therefore, was more likely than not a justified act of self-defence.”
The report states Galvin only provided a partial written statement to IIO through his lawyer, but did not provide any account of the shooting itself or motivation.
Shore was sentenced in Kamloops provincial court on Dec. 18 for pointing a firearm, possessing a firearm without a license and possessing a firearm contrary to an order.
Shore was given 435 days time served and 18 months of probation, as well as a lifetime firearms ban. He was also ordered to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database.
