Community calls for full investigation into death of refugee shot by Surrey RCMP
Posted September 26, 2024 11:43 am.
Last Updated September 26, 2024 7:37 pm.
Community groups say they want a full investigation into the death of Vanessa Rentería, a Colombian refugee shot dead by the Surrey RCMP last week.
The groups, including the BC Civil Liberties Association and Battered Womens’ Support Services, say Rentería was a mother and union activist who came to Canada in search of a better life.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!They say she was the mother of an 18-month-old daughter, and they say there needs to be a full, independent, and transparent investigation into her death.
The Surrey RCMP says the Independent Investigations Office of BC was notified on Sept. 19 about the shooting death.
At the time of the incident, the RCMP shared that it responded to reports of a disturbance at a home shortly after 4:30 a.m. after officers were called to a home where a woman had reportedly barricaded herself in a room with a weapon and a child.
Two other adults were in the room but were “safely removed.”
About an hour after they got there, an officer fired a weapon, striking the woman, Mounties said last week.
“The devastating loss of Vanessa has left her community, friends, and family with numerous questions, and we stand with them in demanding answers,” the BWSS shared.
“The initial information circulated to the public was the RCMP public account of the events that occurred on the day of the shooting. We know that, outside of the RCMP narrative, there is more information regarding what happened, including the context around her life and questions more broadly about Vanessa’s safety,” the BWSS added.
Community advocates, including from the BWSS, spoke out against her death at a press conference at Surrey Public Library on Thursday morning, raising questions about the RCMP officers’ actions up to the moment they opened fire and killed Vanessa Renteria.
“I was impacted when on Friday, I knew she was dead. She was killed by the police. I can’t imagine Vanessa trying to be safe with her daughter,” said Violete Munoz-Berruecos with Parents Support BC.
Several organizations condemned police actions at Thursday’s press conference.
“This person has suffered violence in Colombia, and came here, suffered also violence, and the result of that? The police killed Vanessa, in front of her daughter,” said Nadia Revelo, who is part of the Committee of Solidarity for Vanessa Renteria.
Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services says the RCMP’s initial statement was “effective in dehumanizing Vanessa in the eyes of the public.”
MacDougall said police were, “playing into well-worn narratives of refugees and newcomers, and of women and of Black people, and of Afro-Latinas.”
The Surrey RCMP says it won’t comment as the IIO investigates.
The advocate groups, some of whom worked with Renteria, say she was in-between women’s shelters before returning home to an aggressive partner.
“All these institutions that are working for women are full of calls – and we’re tired of receiving calls because they are not safe in their houses, and they don’t have choice, they have to go back, because they don’t have the money to pay their own rent,” said Munoz-Berruecos.
They say Renteria’s family in Colombia is now trying to get visas to travel to Canada, as family members have not seen the body and are trying to get more information.
-With files from Emma Crawford and Charles Brockman.
