The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) is investigating after a man involved in an 11-hour standoff with police in Charlie Lake Sunday was found dead inside his home.
North District RCMP say emergency response team members entered the home on Rimrock Drive late Sunday and found the man dead. A two-year-old boy was found safe and escorted to family members and paramedics around 10:30 p.m.
The IIO is the province's police watchdog, and investigates lethal and non-lethal use of force incidents.
The BC Coroners Service confirmed the man was not killed by police.
Youssef said investigators will work to determine whether "there's a connection between the death of the individual and the actions or inactions of a police officer."
North District RCMP did not return calls for comment Monday. The age and identity of the man are unknown.
Officers went to the home around 11:45 a.m. in response to a domestic call. The woman who made the call was able to escape to safety, but police spent most of the day trying to contact the man and check on the well-being of the child.
Repeated attempts by police to make contact with the man were unsuccessful. The North District Emergency Response Team responded later in the afternoon to secure a perimeter around the home.
At least four neighbouring homeowners were told to evacuate.
Rimrock Drive resident Alli Peck said she noticed three RCMP cruisers parked near the home around 1 p.m. while going out to run errands.
When she returned an hour later around 2 p.m., Peck said officers told her there was a standoff and to leave the area immediately.
"He told me they were evacuating the neighbourhood because they didn't want anybody to get hit by stray bullets," Peck told the Alaska Highway News.
"(The officer) didn't want anybody by the windows," she added.
Police allowed Peck to grab three children in her home, and a fourth who was in her car, and escort them to safety at a friend's house.
At least three other homeowners were evacuated, Peck said.
Emergency response team officers could be seen gearing up behind Jackfish Dundees restaurant shortly after 3:30 p.m.
Another nearby resident told the Alaska Highway News that she and her husband weren't told evacuate, and that police laid a spike belt across the road.
Neither knew the homeowner in question.
"It's a pretty quiet place," said Peck, who's lived on Rimrock Drive for 20 years. "We've never had anything like this at all."
-- with files from Alaska Highway News reporter Jonny Wakefield
