Jury makes single recommendation as inquest into deadly 2018 Rose Hill police shooting wraps up

KAMLOOPS — In the final day of the coroners inquest into a 2018 police shootout that took the life of 35-year-old Eugene Marcano, court heard from two medical experts, including a pathologist from Royal Inland Hospital, and Brad Fawcett, a police use of force expert.

On September 14, 2018, Kamloops RCMP were called to a property in Rose Hill for a report of a suspicious truck and trailer.

According to an IIO report, Marcano became agitated while interacting with the officers and retreated into the trailer before opening fire on the officers with a shotgun. The Mounties returned fire, fatally shooting Marcano.

Over the course of three days, 10 witnesses testified in front of a Kamloops courtroom.

After a lengthy deliberation process, the seven-member jury came back with just one recommendation, relating to police officers’ ability to use license plates to help identify subjects.

Spokesperson for BC Coroners Service, Amber Schinkel, says an inquest is not meant to find fault, to assign blame or make legal recommendations and the jury is to refrain from finding any legal responsibilities.

“An inquest is important as recommendations can come out of an inquest about any matter that may have arose with the aim of preventing future loss of life in similar circumstances,” said Schinkel. “(Inquests) are a way to keep the public informed of the manner in which someone died and the goal is to try to prevent people from dying in the same manner in the future.”