By David P. Ball
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He was remembered as a kind neighbour in the Downtown Eastside, as a member of the community's tight-knit drug user community, and as someone needing mental health support.
Instead, the 37-year-old man known to friends as "Chester" — though not yet officially identified by authorities — was shot to death on Jan. 5 at the corner of East Hastings St. and Princess by Vancouver police who said he was holding a blade and "threatening people" after throwing furniture out his window.
The Independent Investigations Office has opened a file to scrutinize the police officers' conduct.
Roughly 250 people attended a memorial vigil on Tuesday at the site of his killing. Some of those who witnessed it said he was not a threat but was agitated and in distress, and being goaded on and "antagonized" by bystanders. Witnesses went on to say that he could have been incapacitated and taken into custody without firing multiple shots at him. His second floor window remained boarded up with wood as of Tuesday, below which the Grace Mansion building's awning was ripped.
Tuesday's vigil was organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), who identified the Filipino-Canadian man as a member of their community. Meanwhile, his neighbours spoke about the extreme events of the morning he died and asked why police acted the way they did, and why Chester fell through the cracks of the mental health system.
Many offered cigarettes, sage and candy at a makeshift memorial in the middle of Hastings Street adorned with his photographs.