Chilliwack Mountie charged with aggravated assault and firearms offences in 2021 shooting
Const. Keven Biagioni accused of careless use of a firearm in incident that seriously injured man
UPDATE — Nov. 26, 2024: Charges stayed against B.C. Mountie who shot man armed with barbecue skewer.
An RCMP officer in Chilliwack, B.C., has been charged with aggravated assault and two firearms offences in connection with a 2021 shooting that left a man with serious injuries.
Charges were sworn against Const. Keven Biagioni in Chilliwack provincial court on Thursday, according to a statement from the B.C. Prosecution Service. The gun-related counts include discharging a firearm with intent and careless use of a firearm.
The charges stem from a confrontation on the morning of Jan. 12, 2021, when officers were responding to calls about a domestic incident in which the man involved had left the home, according to the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO).
Police found the man in a vehicle near the intersection of Lickman and Keith Wilson roads, and "an interaction occurred which resulted in shots being fired by police," the IIO said in a statement earlier this year.
The man was seriously injured in the shooting and had to be treated in hospital. The IIO was called in to investigate and forwarded a report to Crown in June 2022.
At the time of the shooting, the IIO said the man was "reportedly … in possession of a weapon," but since then, no further information has been released about the existence of a weapon.
Biagioni is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Dec. 12.