(UPDATED) One man dead, six Vancouver Police officers sent to hospital following incident

Update: The Independent Investigations Office confirmed they are investigating the incident.

Six officers with the Vancouver Police Department have been sent to hospital following an incident in Southeast Vancouver that apparently led to the death of one man.

According to police, at approximately 2:30 p.m. officers were called to a residence at the 3600 block of Southeast Marine Drive, just west of Boundary Road, to respond to reports of a distraught man causing a disturbance.

“As the first officer on scene attempted to detain him, he became agitated and additional officers were called to the scene,” reads a statement issued by the VPD. “Attempts to subdue the man with chemical agents were unsuccessful. A physical altercation ensued, resulting in injuries to the man and six officers.”

The man succumbed to his injuries at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics to revive him.

Two officers were transported to hospital with significant but non-life threatening injuries while another four officers were taken to hospital with minor injuries. All of the injured officers involved have since been released from hospital.

As this was a police-involved incident that led to serious harm and death, B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office (IIO) will be taking the lead over the investigation of the man’s death.

Limited information is available at this time as the investigation is in its early stages, a statement from the IIO is expected on Friday. The cause of the death has not been revealed.

More on this as it develops…