Image: Nicky McIntosh / A Chilliwack woman is mourning the loss of her dad after an incident this past Friday near the U.S. border in rural Langley left one man dead. Nicky McIntosh, a resident of Promontory, says her father, 66-year-old Don Bennett, died following an incident in which police were called out Friday morning, November 10 at around 10:15 a.m. to check on the well-being of an individual who police say was distraught.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack woman mourns loss of her dad

Chilliwack woman mourns the loss of her father following police incident in Langley on Friday

Nov 13, 2023 | 3:17 PM

CHILLIWACK – A Chilliwack woman is mourning the loss of her dad after an incident this past Friday near the U.S. border in rural Langley left one man dead.

Nicky McIntosh, a resident of Promontory, says her father, 66-year-old Don Bennett, died following an incident in which police were called out Friday morning, November 10 at around 10:15 a.m. to check on the well-being of an individual who police say was distraught and made concerning comments.

According to a news release from the B.C. RCMP, Langley RCMP officers were dispatched to the 23500 block of 0 Avenue. Officers worked to locate an individual, later identified by McIntosh as Bennett, and were able to find him at approximately 4 p.m. on Friday. Police did not indicate the name of the deceased in their news release.

Upon attendance, officers from the Langley RCMP reported shots being fired from inside the building. As a result, police say, the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team was also dispatched and attempted in various ways to communicate with the individual who had allegedly barricaded himself inside the building. The RCMP deployed a telecommunications block that prevented Bennett from contacting family members during the crisis, according to McIntosh.

At approximately 10:40 p.m. Friday night, a fire erupted and engulfed the building, police said, adding that they believe the individual did not exit the building and is believed to have died in the blaze. Two police vehicles used for containment were heavily damaged by the fire. No one else was injured.

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For McIntosh, it was a devastating turn of events for her father, a man she described as kind-hearted who deeply loved his family, friends and community very much. He lived alone at the residence on 0 Avenue just steps from the U.S. border.

“He loved his horse and the outdoors,” she said. “He was a part of the Back Country Horsemen and spent most weekends at Campbell Valley Park with his horse. He was the life of the party everywhere he went and was a very kind man, even to strangers, for no reason at all.”

Image: Nicky McIntosh

McIntosh acknowledges that her dad was struggling with mental health concerns. Her last conversation with Bennett may have been difficult.

“I encouraged him to seek help,” she said. “The conversation wasn’t extremely recent. I would like people to know that he was a kind-hearted and generous man who was in a crisis. He very much wanted to live.”

And be a grandfather to McIntosh’s two daughters ages 11 and 9. McIntosh shared multiple images of her dad at various stages of her daughters’ lives, from the birth of one of his granddaughters to moments at restaurants or apple farms, or at his daughter’s wedding. There was Bennett, smiling from ear to ear, whether he was with family or on one of his beloved horses.

Image: Nicky McIntosh / Don Bennett with his 2 granddaughters from Chilliwack.

McIntosh says she told her daughters about the incident in terms that reflect her despair over how police handled things.

“I told them that their Grandpa was having a hard time and that someone called the police on him. When the police showed up, it wasn’t handled very well and it ended in a fire and Grandpa didn’t manage to make it out of the building in time. I’ve prepared them for the next few days of me being off work and spending time finding out exactly what happened. They are upset and shocked. We put up the Christmas tree tonight (Sunday, Nov. 12) to try to have some normalcy.”

Image: Nicky McIntosh / Don Bennett with his granddaughter.

Given these critical circumstances, the Independent Investigations Office of BC is investigating police actions in the incident. The Langley RCMP says it plans to conduct a parallel investigation into the events preceding the interaction with police. Since the matter is now under investigation by the IIO of BC, police say they cannot release any further information.

By speaking out, McIntosh hopes to disseminate the need for mental health awareness among police. She says she’s been in contact with the IIO and RCMP and has followed all the news reports from different media outlets, along with social media comments and threads from neighbours as the situation was unfolding.

“I am going to try my hardest to tell this story in support of mental health awareness,” McIntosh said. “I really want to help send the message that mental health crises need to be handled differently in Canada and by the RCMP. I’ve read some speculation that he was trying to die by cop [through] fire/suicide. I don’t believe it for a second.”

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack woman mourns the loss of her father following police incident in Langley on Friday

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