Community demands answers in fatal police shooting of Surrey mom

A coalition of equity-seeking organizations has issued a unified demand for a "full, independent, and transparent investigation" into the fatal police shooting of Surrey, B.C., mother last week.

Vanessa Renteria Valencia was killed in the early morning hours of Sept. 19 after police were called to a disturbance at a home in the 6200 block of 180A Street.

At a news conference Thursday, Angela Marie MacDougall of Battered Women's Support Services said the RCMP's narrative of how Renteria Valencia died implies she was dangerous, "playing into well-worn narratives used against refugees, women and Black people and Afro-Latinas."

"Vanessa, new to Canada and British Columbia, arrived with the hope of building a better life for herself and her 18-month-old daughter, only to have those dreams cut short by an encounter with the police," said MacDougall. 

"Something like this should never have happened, said Brian Seremba of B.C. Community Alliance. "Police are more than equipped to deal with different types of crises. To see a member of our community shot and killed in front of her baby is devastating and tragic."

B.C. RCMP said in an earlier statement that police were called to the home at 4:40 a.m., where they "found a woman barricaded in a room who was reportedly holding a weapon next to a young child."

"At approximately 5:30 a.m., while interacting with the woman, an officer fired their weapon, striking her," according to the police statement.

The child was not physically injured, police said.

MacDougall said Renteria Valencia had recently left a shelter and moved back in with her husband and brother-in-law.

"We know that women living in abusive situations retreat to bedrooms, spare rooms, bathrooms with their children to establish a physical boundary between themselves and those they believe could do harm to them. We know that mothers will fiercely protect their right to mother their children in the context of familial violence," said MacDougall.

MacDougall said her organization believes police used Renteria Valencia's husband as an interpreter and that she was shot three times.

"We do not know if RCMP attempted any type of de-escalation. Witnesses on the scene told us they did not," said MacDougall. 

The Independent Investigations Office is investigating the death. RCMP said earlier that no further information would be released.

Rosa Elena Arteaga of the Battered Women's Support Services said Renteria Valencia was a model refugee and loving mother who was forced to flee her native Colombia because of her union activism.

"She came to Canada for protection, and she did everything a refugee is supposed to do," she said. "She went to English classes. She was trying to do volunteer work." 

Arteaga said Renteria Valencia was hoping to find housing of her own after leaving an abusive relationship, but after a month in the shelter ended up returning to the home she had left. 

In addition to the investigation, the coalition is calling for "accountability for those responsible for this tragic incident, including the officers involved," and "justice for Vanessa and her daughter, who will now grow up without the love and guidance of her mother.

Other parties present at the news conference include the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, B.C. General Employees' Union, Surrey Women's Centre, Parents Support Services Society of B.C. and friends and family of Renteria Valencia.