Corporal Daniel MacIntosh spent the entire day testifying and answering questions about the events leading up to the police shooting death of 28 year-old Julian Jones on February 27, 2021, at his mother’s Opitsaht home.
After reviewing his police training up to February 2021, Daniel MacIntosh, who was a constable with the RCMP back then, was on call that night. He was summoned by Cst. Robichaud to assist him on the call to Opitsaht.
He stated that he and other officers had been on calls to house 141 on other occasions and were familiar with it, its occupants, including the two brothers, John Lucas Jr. and Julian Jones.
According to testimony from at least two police officers, they knew from previous interactions with the brothers, that they were close, always together and that Julian was protective of his younger brother, John. Cst. MacIntosh stated that Julian would get combative or aggressive if he feared his brother was being harmed.
They also knew that Julian had intellectual challenges. “He had a low IQ, he was different, quick to anger and he relied on his brother John a lot,” said MacIntosh.
Due to the nature of the call for help, with a possible sexual assault and forced confinement, the two officers prepared to make more than one arrest and called on the Ahousaht satellite RCMP detachment for back-up.
But it was a dark winter night and would take probably 40 minutes for Ahousaht officers to arrive at Opitsaht in their boat. The two Tofino constables, Robichaud and MacIntosh proceeded in the dark to the house, electing not to wait for back-up from Ahousaht.
The house, very near the Opitsaht dock, was dark. There were no outdoor lights on. The two officers approached the house by the light of their flashlights. Up a small flight of stairs and through the first door is a covered porch that was dark. The second door that leads into the house was locked.
After loudly knocking on the door, John Lucas Jr. opened the door and was immediately pulled aside by Cst. Robichaud and arrested. MacIntosh testified that prior to the door opening, they overheard Lucas talking about the female complainant before hearing a female voice call out for help.
He went on to say Lucas Jr. was compliant and that he asked officers to be careful of a wrist he had injured earlier as they placed him in handcuffs. At some point Cst. MacIntosh turned to assist Robichaud cuff Lucas’ left wrist.
With no lights on in the room, MacIntosh used his flashlight to see who was in the room as Robichaud continued to handle Lucas Jr. He observed a young woman seated in an armchair in the left far corner of the room.
Near the right corner of the room was a hallway, partially obscured by a hanging cloth. It was there that he first noticed Julian Jones, standing, holding objects, he estimated to be 12 to 18 inches long in each hand.
With Lucas now handcuffed and being held by Robichaud near the front door, Julian was heard to say, don’t hurt my brother – I’ll fucking kill you. “I didn’t know what he had in his hands, but he clashed them together like swords and the still dark room filled with sparks,” MacIntosh stated.
At some point, Carol Manson approached Robichaud, asking what he was doing and saying that her son hadn’t done anything wrong. According to MacIntosh, she was pushing on the officer’s chest, trying to get to her son, John.
MacIntosh said they yelled at Julian to drop the knives. They assumed the long metal objects he was holding were knives. MacIntosh stated that Julian was pacing back and forth on the far side of the room, in front of the television which was less than 12 feet from the front door, with a sofa between the door and television.
MacIntosh said he drew his pistol but didn’t aim it at anyone because both Carol and the female victim were still in the small living room.
Robichaud told John to tell Julian that he is okay, to which John responded, “Brother, calm down, everything’s okay.”
“It seemed nothing registered with him,” MacIntosh testified. Julian clashed the objects together and advanced toward the officers at the front door from behind the sofa. By this time Carol had been pushed to the floor.
When MacIntosh raised his pistol, Julian stopped and went back around to the front of the sofa. MacIntosh moved a few feet from the front door to the left, away from the sofa and Jones. With Jones advancing toward MacIntosh, Cst. Robichaud, still holding John in handcuffs, deployed his taser, striking Jones, who then fell to the floor.
When Robichaud fired the taser, John seemed to believe that the taser was a firearm and yelled, “you shot him!”
MacIntosh stated there was only one taser and it takes five seconds for the device to recycle, meaning it could not be immediately re-fired.
Seconds later Julian stood up, with the objects still in hand. “I said, Julian, don’t do this!” but he turned and started walking towards me. I raised my pistol and pulled the trigger when I heard a shot go off. He was still walking and then I saw two more shots,” said MacIntosh.
When MacIntosh said he saw the shots, he was referring to the flash from the muzzle of his partner’s gun.
MacIntosh explained that it is hard to pull the trigger of a police service weapon. It has a 12 lb. trigger and is very hard to pull. But, he said, his weapon was drawn and he was prepared to use it because he feared for his life, he said in testimony.
When Julian fell, his mother Carol screamed ‘you shot my son!’ and she crawled to Julian, cradling him in her arms.
MacIntosh said he went over to Julian who was motionless and saw the items he was carrying still in his hands, but Julian was no longer tightly gripping them. MacIntosh tossed the items toward the kitchen. “I believe my exact words were, they’re fucking files!’
MacIntosh said prior to the shooting they did not know what Julian had in his hands but knew they were metal from when he clashed them together and officers assumed they were knives. “I wouldn’t have never guessed they were files,” MacIntosh testified.
Immediately following the shooting, John Jr. became irate and began fighting Robichaud even though he had handcuffs on. The female victim, according to MacIntosh, somehow got a hold of the taser and was pointing it forward as she walked towards the door. MacIntosh said he took the taser from her and secured it.
The officers radioed for help and MacIntosh checked Julian for a pulse. “He let out a long exhale and then his body completely relaxed,” said MacIntosh. There was no pulse.
On March 1, 2021, officers gave statements to IIO investigators.
MacIntosh told investigators that he thought he had fired his weapon because he had it drawn and was pulling the trigger, but it never discharged.
“John was completely cooperative. It was going textbook, until it was not,” MacIntosh testified.
MacIntosh said Jones was standing across the room from the door, about ten to twelve feet away. The room was lit only by the 1,000 lumen police flashlight. Pointed in the dark, directly at a person at that distance, they wouldn’t be able to see anything, MacIntosh stated.
When asked why the Tofino RCMP officers did not wait for back-up from Ahousaht RCMP, who were on their way, MacIntosh said, given the nature of the complaint, they had a duty to protect the complainant.
“It happened very quickly and he was not responding to anything we or his brother said to him,” said MacIntosh. “I don’t know what could have been done to change the outcome. I feared for my life and my partner’s life, and in the aftermath, I stood there shaking,” he added.
The Coroners Inquest continues Friday, August 21 at the Port Alberni Law Courts.
