A 31-year-old Vancouver Island resident has been charged with murder in connection with what police are describing as a gun battle on the downtown streets of Nanaimo.
A 47-year-old man was fatally shot in the middle of a parking lot a busy industrial area of the city around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Const. Gary O'Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP said nearly thirty rounds of bullets were exchanged between three men.
"The number of bullets flying and God only knows where they would end up. I'm just thankful that no one was injured other than the people involved."
Police have not released the victim's name but he has been identified to CTV News by business owners as John Borden. Police say Borden, originally from Nova Scotia, had been living in a rental unit in a nearby commercial building.
Borden had been telling people he had received threats about a debt he owed.
"He told me he had been threatened and someone had threatened to come and shoot him," Chris Wilson told CTV News.
Wilson said Borden intended to pay, but two men in an SUV drove up shortly after the conversation.
Right after the gun battle, one of the men involved with an injured leg ran to the highway and flagged down a passing motorist. He told the driver to take him to hospital.
Terry Cody pulled over when he saw the man standing on the road with blood-soaked jeans.
"I said ‘are you alright?'" Cody said. "He said ‘I gotta get to the hospital,'"
But the car didn't leave the scene. Police ordered the man with the wounded leg on the ground and took him into custody.
Police have charged Simon Phillip Dockerill, 31, with first-degree murder. The resident of Nanoose, about 10 kilometres from Nanaimo, was remanded into custody after a bail hearing was held at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Wednesday afternoon. Dockerill is expected to remain in hospital for several weeks because of his injuries.
A second man involved was released from custody and RCMP say he will not face any charges.
The area around the scene is not expected to be reopened until sometime Thursday.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
