An inquest into the death of a man who shot himself while under police fire at the Nanaimo ferry terminal six years ago wrapped up on Monday.
In his address to the jury after the testimony was complete, presiding coroner Larry Marzinzik said their findings should not delve into legal responsibilities or conclusions in the death of Jer Wood in May of 2018.
He said the jury can put forward recommendations “where appropriate and supported by evidence” that could prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.
“Your verdict and any recommendations you make will be forwarded to the chief coroner of the province, who may bring them to the attention of the appropriate persons, agencies and ministries of government,” Marzinzik said.
When police closed in on him after he drove off a ferry in Departure Bay on May 8, 2018 — his 39th birthday — Wood was being sought in a violent Penticton carjacking and non-fatal shooting in the Vernon area.
His mother testified that he’d been struggling with drug addiction and had changed his name from Jerry Robert Smallwood the year before, likely to protect his family.
An aerial image from the scene shows four police vehicles boxing in Wood’s car.
According to a later report by the B.C. Independent Investigations Office, two officers saw Wood raise a pistol as he sat in a vehicle, and shot him.
The IIO, which looks into police-involved incidents where there is serious injury or death, cleared officers of any wrongdoing in the case.
Along with Wood’s mother, witnesses at the week-long inquest at the Nanaimo courthouse included Wood’s girlfriend, his doctor, a firearms expert and several police officers.
Wood’s mother, Sharon Smallwood, testified that her son had developed a drug addiction after being taken off painkillers following a work-related back injury several years before — with fentanyl and methamphetamines among the substances he was using.
His girlfriend, Danielle Frost, testified that Wood told her the day before he died that he had shot somebody and that police would have to shoot him, too, because he wasn’t going to go to jail.
One of the final witnesses Monday was Alan Turner, who led the IIO probe into the case. He said that IIO investigators, who arrived at the terminal a few hours after the shooting, spoke to about 100 members of the public, including 35 who were eventually given full interviews.
The sheer number of people involved prompted the IIO to call on Victoria police to help, since they were not involved in the case, and the department sent four detectives to assist.
A toxicology report said that Wood had a high level of fentanyl in his system at the time of his death.
Turner said it was not part of the IIO investigation to determine how or when he got the drug.
