In the Coroner's inquest into the death of Greg Matters, who was shot dead by an R.C.M.P. officer who put two bullets into his back with a high powered rifle at close range, the jury after hearing three weeks of testimony gave the verdict of this to be a homicide.
Webster's dictionary tells us that homicide is the killing of a human being by another, whether murder or manslaughter. Murder is a serious crime in Canada, but what else can you call it when a police officer takes careful aim and puts two bullets into the back of a man walking away from him?
I wonder about who gave this officer the order to shoot to kill Matters? If these police officers did not want to walk up to Matters and tell him he had to come with them, but would rather use a weapon from a distance why was he not shot in the leg, which would have immobilized him, and they could take him in as per their order?
Taking Matters in with the help of a dog didn't work because when he came out walking toward the gate,possibly to open it,he brought his own dog along,sc to avoid a dog fight the: police called their dog off, and told the story that Matters had pulled a hatchet out from under his jacket, and was swinging it, and it was for this reason their dog was pulled off. Whether this hatchet story is true or false will never be known because no D.N.A. sample was taken from its handle to
tie it to Matters. It raises suspicion when police who are trained to give evidence cannot remember, or give conflicting evidence about what hand this hatchet was held in.
The statement by police that Matters was shot in the chest when the coroner's evidence shows he was shot in the back tells a lot about reliability of their statements. This whole affair is a spot on the R.C.M.P. record, an organization in which so many brave, honest,and dedicated
men and women work.
The Matters family is right there is a need that justice be done. Individual police officers should be held to account, and perhaps this whole bungling response team should be dismantled. The independent investigation officer should loose his job for accepting false information that Matters was shot in the chest, and the ruling the police had done nothing wrong.
Svend Serup
Prince George
