A Kelowna man who had survived several shootings over the past several years, including one that took place last weekend, has been reported to have died.

B.C. RCMP announced today (August 5) that shortly after midnight, Vernon North Okanagan RCMP received a call about two women who were allegedly stabbed, as well as a male suspect who was “acting erratically due to possible drug impairment” at a campground near Enderby, B.C.

The two women sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Police cordoned off the area and searched for the suspect, with the use of a police dog.

Around 2 a.m., officers found the man down an embankment near a river.

According to RCMP, he was located in medical distress from what appeared to be self-inflicted injuries.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO BC), which B.C. RCMP notified, added in its own news release that officers “cautiously approached with use of tear gas and a 40 mm less-lethal round”.

IIO BC also stated that officers provided first aid around 3 a.m. until emergency health services arrived.

Despite medical efforts, the man died from his injuries at the scene.

B.C. RCMP confirmed that the man was one of two individuals targeted in a shooting in Kelowna on July 31 and was the subject of a public warning.

Although B.C. RCMP did not name the individual who died in the Enderby incident, Kelowna RCMP had previously identified 37-year-old Kyle Gianis of West Kelowna as one of the Kelowna shooting victims, and deemed him a risk to public safety. Several news reports are identifying the suspect who died in the Enderby incident as Gianis.

The other victim in the Kelowna shooting, an unnamed 25-year-old man from Surrey (who was not identified by RCMP as a threat to public safety), had been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. 

An undetonated explosive device was also discovered at the Kelowna shooting site and, on August 3, investigators released images and video of a suspect who had fled the scene.

Gianis had been targeted by several assassination attempts in the past, including being shot in the leg in Kelowna on March 29 and surviving a shooting in Langley in 2017.

IIO BC, which is an independent police watchdog agency, will investigate the Enderby incident to determine if police action or inaction contributed to the man’s death.

Anyone who has relevant information about the Enderby incident is asked to call the IIO BC Witness Line at 1-855-446-8477 or contact IIO BC through its website.