British ColumbiaB.C.’s police watchdog says the lethal force used by an officer to protect two staff members from a violent suspect at a downtown Vancouver convenience store in December 2024 was justified in order to protect the workers.B.C. police watchdog says lethal force appropriate response to protect workers at Robson Street storeChad Pawson · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 3:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 22First responders are pictured after multiple stabbings and a police shooting inside of a 7-Eleven in downtown Vancouver on Dec. 4, 2024. (Ben Nelms/CBC)B.C.’s police watchdog says the lethal force used by an officer to protect two staff members from a violent suspect at a downtown Vancouver convenience store in December 2024 was justified in order to protect the workers.The suspect, who was armed with a knife and has not been named, was killed after being Tasered and then shot at the 7-Eleven at the corner of Robson and Hamilton streets on Dec. 4, 2024.The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO B.C.) investigates any incident involving police that results in serious harm or death. On Wednesday, it made public its report into the 7-Eleven suspect death.In it, the office found that the actions of the suspect, who the report said was threatening and making stabbing motions toward two employees trapped behind the counter of the store, “presented a threat of death or grievous bodily harm.”The police officer who shot him was “justified — and in fact bound by his duty as a police officer — to use all necessary force to protect them from it,” said the report.One of the employees was struck in the face by a bullet fragment, which caused “traumatic” injuries requiring surgery.The report said the fragment injury was “unfortunate” but that “the lethal threat posed by [the suspect] to the two employees was greater than the risk of harm from the [officer’s] shots.”The other employee was treated for knife wounds to her head, back and left hand caused by the suspect, the report found.A witness is interviewed by media after multiple stabbings and a police shooting inside of a 7-Eleven in downtown Vancouver on Dec. 4, 2024. (Ben Nelms/CBC)Written by IIO Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund, the report said there are no reasonable grounds to believe an officer committed an offence in relation to the incident.It relied on the statements of 17 civilian witnesses, the two injured store employees, four paramedics and three witness police officers, in addition to various recordings from 911 calls and commercial security cameras.On the day of the incident, police were called to 7-Eleven about a man bothering staff to give him cigarettes. Officers resolved the matter without incident.The report says afterwards the suspect went into a nearby restaurant and stole bottles of liquor, an iPad and two knives. He then returned to the 7-Eleven and began threatening the two employees with the knives, initiating a cascade of events which included de-escalation techniques, the use of a controlled energy weapon (Taser) that did not immobilize the suspect and then eventually shots fired, according to the IIO B.C. report.
Vancouver police officer cleared in killing of 7-Eleven knife attacker
