Home / RCMP officer found guilty in shooting of Bill Gillespie

RCMP officer found guilty in shooting of Bill Gillespie

The RCMP officer who shot Bill Gillespie in Chemainus in September of 2009 has been found guilty of aggravated assault. The BCCLA had previously expressed concern that the officer, who was criminally charged at the time, was representing the RCMP in public at a conference. The extent of his duties with Nanaimo RCMP between the date of the shooting and the date of this conviction remains unclear.

Gillespie was shot September 18, 2009. The involved officer, David Pompeo, was charged almost two years later, on May 5, 2011. The one week trial started on September 4, 2012 in Duncan.

“Bill Gillespie waited twenty months for the investigation to complete, and now is seeing justice more than three years after he was shot,” said Josh Paterson, Executive Director of the BCCLA. “We hope that the Independent Investigation Office will significantly reduce this time frame for future cases, because such delay is unfair not just to the complainant, but also to the officer who is the subject of the complaint.”

The BCCLA has supported Bill Gillespie through the trial process, sending a lawyer to monitor some of the trial in Duncan, British Columbia.

“Our organization has a commitment to fair trials and process, and now that process is finally complete for Mr. Gillespie and the defendant officer,” said Paterson. “We hope that the RCMP acts swiftly to remove the defendant from his role as a police officer – he cannot be permitted to put the public at risk again through poor judgment.”

CIVIL LIBERTIES CAN’T PROTECT THEMSELVES