A Victoria police officer who killed a woman when he shot her with plastic bullets during an incident at a supportive-housing facility is expected to learn next Thursday what sort of discipline he could face.
Sgt. Ron Kirkwood was found to have committed misconduct in the Christmas Day 2019 incident by adjudicator Wally Oppal, a retired judge and former B.C. attorney general who oversaw a public hearing held by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner into the death.
The hearing into the death of Lisa Rauch, 43, was held over 16 days between April and September 2024.
Kirkwood, who was a constable at the time of the death, was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting.
As a result of the misconduct finding, he could face penalties ranging from dismissal or a reduced rank to a suspension without pay or a requirement to take more training.
On Friday, Kevin Woodall, Kirkwood’s lawyer, suggested discipline at the lower end of the scale, such as a verbal reprimand or a brief suspension, while OPCC counsel Chris Considine said the Rauch family has not taken a position on discipline — saying the hope is that whatever is decided will help to prevent any future tragedy.
Lisa Rauch’s mother, Audrey Rauch, said after Friday’s proceedings that the family wants to see positive steps taken that will be fully implemented, rather than punishment.
“I kind of think that there’s been an awful lot of punishment already with this process,” she said. “And punishment isn’t going to bring Lisa back.”
On the day of the shooting, Lisa had locked herself in a unit of a Pandora Avenue housing facility after drinking alcohol and consuming methamphetamine.
Her parents said she was mentally ill and suffered from addiction.
Police were responding to a report that Lisa had threatened the unit’s tenant with a knife before barricading herself inside alone.
While police initially tried to persuade her to come out, a fire inside prompted them to enter the unit.
Smoke from the fire filled the room and obscured officers’ vision when they opened the unit’s door, and Kirkwood fired three rounds from an ARWEN, which shoots plastic projectiles, at what he believed was Rauch’s torso.
At least one round hit Rauch in the head and she died four days later as a result of her injuries.
There was disagreement during the public hearing between firefighters and police officers over whether the fire was out when Kirkwood shot the ARWEN. Oppal accepted testimony from a firefighter who said it was a relatively small fire and he had extinguished the flames and was backing out when he heard the shots.
Given the small size of the fire, the fact it was already being addressed by firefighters, the fact no weapon was seen and Rauch was not advancing on police, “there was not an imminent risk of death or grievous bodily harm to the police or anyone else that would have justified lethal force,” Oppal said.
While the ARWEN is considered a less-lethal weapon when targeting some areas of the body, it is considered lethal force when targeting other parts, so firing the ARWEN when a target area could not be reliably identified presented a “substantial risk of injury or death to Ms. Rauch,” Oppal said, calling it “reckless and unnecessary.”
