The identity of the man shot and killed by Kamloops RCMP Friday night won't be confirmed until next week, says the man leading the investigation.

Rick Tuza, an acting staff-sergeant in the homicide division of Calgary Police Service, said tonight (Saturday) the dead man was in his early 50s, but positive identification will have to await an autopsy next week.

However, several sources have identified the victim as Kamloops resident Wilbert Bartley, 50. Bartley, nicknamed Peaches by his friends, had a record of convictions on charges ranging from drug trafficking to possession of stolen property.

Tuza arrived in Kamloops this morning along with two other investigators after RCMP asked Calgary police to conduct an independent investigation.

The fatal shooting erupted at 6:15 p.m. Friday when an unmarked police van pulled up behind a badly rusted Toyota 4Runner that had stopped in the parking lot of the Robo carwash-Esso gas bar-So Espresso coffee shop complex in the 200 block of Tranquille Road.

The Toyota was parked facing the coffee shop as the police van stopped behind it facing sideways. Witnesses said the Toyota lurched backwards and rammed the van. Several shots were fired and then the Toyoto plunged forward through the glass of the coffee shop.

The body of the driver remained in the vehicle until today, Tuza said. “They (Kamloops RCMP) held the crime scene for us.”

Tuza said the two RCMP members involved in the shooting have gone on days off.

He could give few details of the incident, saying there are at least a dozen witnesses to be interviewed. He did not know how many shots were fired.

Although the Toyota wasn't licenced to the man who was killed, police do not believe it was stolen. It has been removed to a police bay for further examination.

He expected the investigation to take “most of the week.”





-------------------------

FILED FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 30, 2010:

By MICHELE YOUNG
and MEL ROTHENBURGER

Kamloops RCMP are saying little about a fatal shooting involving two of their officers as they await outside investigators to look into the incident.

Const. Cheryl Bush said the shooting occurred at 6:15 tonight (Friday) at the Robo Car Wash on 200-block Tranquille Road. The area was taped off for several hours as RCMP waited for the coroner and investigators to arrive, the dead man left inside the vehicle with the windows draped with covers.

Bush said at a 9:30 p.m. press conference she could not release information at this time about the man. He was driving a rusted Toyota 4Runner that smashed into the So Espresso Bistro coffee shop beside the gas station convenience store.

The two officers involved, who have been with the force for several years, were not hurt.

Witnesses believed the man was shot in the head before his truck drove forward into the plate-glass windows of the café.

Deanna Toth, who was walking on the street nearby when the shooting occurred, said the Toyota had pulled into the parking area of the Robo gas bar and a green Dodge Caravan with police in it followed.

She said she saw the driver of the 4Runner back into the van, smashing the passenger side. The two police officers fired at the man, who then drove into the café window.

A man in his 20s who didn't want to give his name said he was inside the Robo convenience store checking a lottery ticket when the truck smashed into the van.

“I hear pop, pop, pop,” he said, not sure about how many gunshots went off.

“I saw a guy in a T-shirt pointing a gun,” he said.

“He (the Toyota driver) was bleeding from the head. . . . He didn't look like he was conscious at all.”

Then he saw the SUV drive into the coffee shop. The vehicle remained lodged halfway into the building.

Across the street, Alan Powell and Willie Trowsdale were working on their new computer store, The Wizard. They were in the back of the shop when they heard the truck hit the van.

Powell said he saw two police officers in plain clothes standing outside the van with their guns drawn, pointed at the truck.

They kept their weapons out after the shooting until other officers showed up, he said. Then the two took some backpacks out of the van.

Powell thought he heard two shots, Trowsdale counted four. When they realized guns were being fired, they hid in the back until all was quiet.

Rob Phillips, owner of the car wash and coffee shop, said employees were in the kitchen closing down for the night when the 4Runner suddenly smashed into the restaurant area. No one in the shop was injured.

Police interviewed one of his employees who was in the parking lot when the shooting occurred. A Victim Services team also talked with the employee before he was escorted from the scene by police.

More than a dozen police cars converged on the scene. Just after 8:30 p.m., an RCMP helicopter hovered overhead as police inside took pictures.

RCMP expected the area to be taped off throughout the night.

Bush said police will issue updates on the weekend as the investigation progresses. Until then, local RCMP have to be careful so they don't give out information that could jeopardize the independent investigation, she said.