Prosecutors have charged a man with second-degree murder, following the discovery of two bodies inside a remote B.C. community home last week.
Orlan Marcel Dennis faces two counts of the charge, which were approved against him on Friday (April 12).
Just three days earlier, on April 9, RCMP were called to a home in the small First Nations community of Tsay Keh Dene, located in the province’s Northern Interior. A caller told police shots had been fired and two people were injured.
When police arrived on scene at about 10:30 p.m., they found a man holding a firearm. That man ran into a neighbouring residence, setting off an hours-long, overnight negotiation between police and himself.
It came to an end the following morning when RCMP threw a chemical irritant into the residence, which forced the man out. Police then used extended range impact munition and their firearms on the man, striking him at least once. He was apprehended and taken to hospital.
The two people who had been reported as injured were found dead. The North District Major Crime is investigating their deaths, while B.C.’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia, is investigating how police handled the apprehension of the man.
The office investigates anytime police activity results in the serious injury or death of a person. In this case, the IIO said the man sustained “gunshot-related injuries.”
Dennis is in custody and is set to appear at the Prince George Law Courts on May 3.
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