Decision coming over officer’s use of anti-riot gun in B.C. woman’s death

VICTORIA — An adjudicator appointed by B.C.’s police watchdog is expected to release his decision on the discipline for an officer who fired an anti-riot weapon, killing a woman.

Former B.C. Supreme Court judge Wally Oppal ruled last month that Victoria police Sgt. Ron Kirkwood’s use of a so-called ARWEN gun on Lisa Rauch was “reckless and unnecessary.”

Oppal was appointed by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner to review the evidence against the officer and determined Kirkwood committed misconduct when he used the weapon on the woman, who was in a drug-induced psychosis.

The commission says Oppal, a former B.C. attorney general, is also expected to issue his decision on possible corrective measures and recommendations for change in relation to his findings.

Oppal’s ruling said the 43-year-old woman was at a friend’s Victoria apartment using drugs and alcohol when she went into the psychosis on Christmas Day 2019.

It says when police entered the apartment, their view was obscured by smoke from a fire and they believed Rauch was standing, but she was actually sitting and was hit in the head by two plastic projectiles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025.

The Canadian Press