A coroner's inquest has been scheduled into a fatal shooting involving a Delta officer almost three years ago.
The B.C. Coroners Service this week announced a public inquiry into the death of Mehrdad Bayrami. The 48-year-old was shot in November 2012 following an armed standoff with police outside the Starlight Casino in New Westminster.
Delta police Const.
Jordan MacWilliams, a member of the Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team at the time, was one of many officers responding to the incident, which started in the early morning hours of Nov. 8 after Bayrami got into an altercation with an exgirlfriend.
Officers were locked in a stand-off with the man for five hours and MacWilliams was assigned to the role of lethal overwatch for his team. In that role, it was his responsibility to provide cover for the other officers and to use necessary force if a threat of death of grievous bodily harm was posed.
MacWilliams has claimed he had a reasonable fear that Bayrami would fire his weapon at police, which prompted him to fire his own weapon. Bayrami, a Richmond resident, was hit and died in hospital 10 days later.
MacWilliams was initially charged with seconddegree murder following an Independent Investigations Office investigation, however, the Criminal Justice
Branch announced in July that it was staying the charges.
MacWilliams is also facing a civil suit launched by Bayrami's daughter, who maintains her father was shot as he walked backwards away from police with his arms at his sides.
The coroner's inquest, which will include a presiding coroner and a jury, is scheduled to start in early February 2016. After hearing evidence related to Bayrami's death, the jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations at preventing deaths under similar circumstances.
