A coroner's inquest jury entered deliberations Tuesday morning following eight days of testimony for a man who was shot to death in a standoff with RCMP at a remote cabin south of Valemount.
John Robert Buehler, 51, was killed during the evening of Sept. 17, 2014. His daughter, Shanna, was seriously wounded during a confrontation with RCMP after the two began squatting in trapper's cabin near Kinbasket Lake about 60 kilometres south of Valemount.
The six-person jury has been asked to issue any recommendations that may prevent similar deaths in the future as well as assign cause of death. The B.C. Coroners Service is not a fault-finding agency.
The inquest, which started last Monday, July 15 at the Prince George courthouse, had heard from 28 witnesses, most of them members of the emergency response team brought in to apprehend the two after they had taken over the cabin and refused to leave.
Large and intimidating, John Buehler had a history of violence. With his daughter and six German shepherd dogs in tow, they moved from Alberta to the Robson Valley where, in June 2014, they set up camp at a community recreation area near Valemount.
After John Buehler unleashed the dogs on a pair of local residents riding horses, RCMP were called in. A four-hour standoff ensued before he finally gave himself up.
About a month later, he was released on custody and was to appear in court in early September 2014. But he failed to do so and a few days later the cabin's owner discovered Buehler and his daughter living there.
When they refused to leave, RCMP were called in.
