Two different stories emerge on how Jeff Hughes died
A drawing that was on Jeff Hughes Facebook page.
By Salim Jiwa
VICTORIA – White Supremacist Jeff Hughes was shot dead by RCMP officers because they saw “what appeared to be a weapon” say cops who are in charge of probing the incident.
But members of the Northwest Imperative, a white separatist, anti-Jewish, group are challenging the suggestion that he had a weapon. They say a policewoman killed him in a panic and that his reputation as a Neo-Nazi prompted police to list him as a dangerous man.
They say the police description of what happened is misleading. They say the wording “what appeared to be a weapon” is deliberately misleading and suggestive of the notion that police were confronted by an armed man.
They also say that Hughes background was known to RCMP’s anti-hate squad that had visited him for distributing pamphlets in which Hughes promoted his pro-European and anti-immigration beliefs.
“The incident began at around 5:45 a.m. when RCMP officers responded to a noise complaint at an apartment building in the 500blk of Shelby Street,” said Victoria Police Sgt. Grant Hamilton.
“The male in the apartment would not open the door and based on his interaction with the responding members they withdrew and contained the building,” he said.
“Over the next hour the officers on scene requested the additional resources of the Emergency Response Team and the K9 unit.
Jeff Hughes
“Several other officers then arrived and assisted in containing the area, however while waiting the arrival of the specialized units, the male exited a suite, carrying what appeared to be a weapon and was fatally shot by officers just before 7:00 a.m,” said Hamilton.
“Unfortunately, the male died from his injuries. An autopsy was conducted this morning in Vancouver,” he added.
“Inspector Clark Russell from the Victoria Police Department is monitoring the investigation and providing independent oversight from the senior officer level,” said Hamilton who has not explained whether there was a weapon or not.
“In addition, an independent observer from the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP and a member of the RCMP Office of Investigative Standards and Practices were also in Nanaimo over the weekend,” he added.
An account of what Hughes friends say transpired at the scene has been posted online. It is headlined “How Jeff Hughes died.”
The account says Hughes was beaten by two people about two hours prior to the arrival of police because he confronted them over loud music they had been playing.
“Jeff Hughes lived in Suite 101 on 531 Selby street in the “ghetto Indian” part of town in Nanaimo because that is all he could afford. He was a proud White Nationalist, and like any upstanding White Nationalist he tried to get along with everybody even his non-white neighbours as best he could,” said the posting.
“From time to time he even would get milk and other items for a disabled Indian/Cree woman that was one of his neighbours. He was a certified computer technician running his own small business. He received a degree from the Carleton University in Ottawa.
“He was not a drug dealer and even had a sign on his door stating this so people would stop banging on his door at 3 a.m looking for drugs (Image of his door sign attached in this post).
“On Friday morning between between 12:00 am and 6 am, his neighbours in suite 102 and 104 were playing loud rap music. The police did nothing.
“The RCMP, including Sgt. Sean McGowan of the anti-hate squad, had harassed and knocked on Jeff’s door before for handing out literature promoting European Canadian values and expressing his anti-immigration views. The RCMP did not attempt to resolve the noise problem when the people in Suite 102 and 104 were playing loud rap music that morning. This meant that Jeff was forced to resolve it himself.”
The group alleges Hughes was asked to become an informant by McGowan.
“Now when his neighbours in suite 102 and 104 played their loud rap music between 3-6am in the morning, Jeff confronted them and urged them to stop. That is when the two males assaulted and viciously attacked Jeff Hughes.
“Jeff had no help from the RCMP when his neighbours assaulted him and continued playing their loud music, so he sat at home, cranked up his stereo to get back at them.
“Two members of the RCMP came in 1 squad car around 6am. Jeff refused to come out and talk because the RCMP had a history of intimidating and harassing him. He at that point was under no obligation to leave his premises.
“This resulted in 1 more squad car with 2 more RCMP coming to 531 Selby. In Jeff’s sleep deprived state, he may have thought the drug dealers were trying to trick him into opening his door up so they could assault him again for playing his music loud.
“After the other two officers arrived shortly after 6 am, making a total of 4, that is when the shooting occurred. But, right before the other two officers arrived, they had called an ambulance first. They had no intention of using less-lethal force, and came in with bad intentions from the start and fired 10 shots at Jeff the moment they saw him. If they just let him be he would have fallen asleep most likely.
“Jeff only had 30 percent feeling in his hands due to a long-standing medical condition. Also, if he really was a threat, why was it only 1 female RCMP officer of the 4 that fired all the shots? Did she have a moment of panic? Did her partners not fire because they recognized Jeff was not a threat?”
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Who cares that this guy was killed, he was a white supremacist, a waste of flesh.
We care very much. We care because his beliefs are unimportant in this matter. We would like police to stop using spin in their public statements. Because the moment they start using spin, that is the end of an impartial investigation.
I’ll give you this much: at least you’re reporting something besides the official police news handouts. The other Canadian sources I’ve seen so far simply regurgitated the RCMP press office handouts.
The cop was impartial when he/she shot him possibly not knowing that he was a white supremacist I believe it was the newspapers that headlined the white supremacist part,
That was the most horrific comment I’ve ever read, we should not feel remorse or sympathetic for this man’s death based on his political leanings? Where are we? Nazi Germany? Get over yourself you are worse then Hitler himself!
your both right. If Indeed he is a White Supremist then he is a waste of skin and he and his ilk need to be removed from the gene pool. That said if police did indeed fire out of an itchy trigger finger vice real motive, then shit like that needs to be stopped. at this point however it is all speculation and we have to wait for the courts to decide
Jill, you claim a man is a “waste of flesh” for being proud of who he is and wanting the preservation of European culture. That’s a sickening sentiment you have expressed.
From the news article, Jeff Hughes is described as a decent man, who posed no threat to the police. The police should be held accountable for killing this man.
How would any of his friends have such a detailed first hand account of what happened?
I agree with the editor. Does what he believed in even matter. Everyone is entitled to there own opinion. And at least he had pride in what he was.
This is a horror, as a member of law enforcement I am sickend. Jeff didn’t like guns so I do not believe he was armed. TO THE RCMP you should be ashamed. I know at least in the USA we are trained in both lethal and non lethal responces.
The coverage of this story has mysteriously vanished in light of new H!N1 “victims”…
look it’s like this… those deaths could not have been prevented this one could have been. I don’t care who you are, you have to understand that this man regardless of politics was another victim of police brutality and who knows this may have even been a hate crime… it’s my understanding that police knew this man to be a non-violent environmentalist whom believed in the preservation of the white race ( I understand he had been confronted by police on this issue) … this is an atrocity of justice
I beg the media to not rest until this issue is resolved black white or red this man was just that a MAN another living creature just like you or me.
Terry Dronet – you claim to be in law-enforcement and seem to be claiming to have known Jeff Hughes well enough to know that he didn’t like guns and you don’t think he was armed. I don’t know whether what the RCMP did was justified or not, since you weren’t there, neither do you. If you were friends with this nazi, I hope your involvement in law enforcement is limited to being a rent-a-cop at the mall.
Wow.. So if I don’t believe exactly as the RCMP do, or exactly as the Canadian government WANTS
me to think, I am to be shot in the street.
Remind me to stay as far away form Canada as possible.
The cop that shot him should never wear a badge again, the supervisor should be demoted to janitor. You people don’t have control of anything. You aren’t going to change what people think or believe by shooting them in the street. I should have known that this shooting was going to reveal
police with guns and an un-armed citizen with a real brain and real thoughts.
So I guess all the anti nazi folks would say if this was nazi Germany and Hitler was in power, this would make sense.
Congrats Canada.. you’ve come full circle !! Just shoot all the people who disagree with your
mentality… Kind of convenient he was a white, evil, computer tech with drug dealing neighbors…
and thoughts about Canada becoming a nation of immigrants versus the Canada he grew up in.
I’d like to see how long Canada will remain a viable country when all the Canadians are dead for thinking.
1. Why is the media so concerned about this man’s political views? This guy was shot unarmed in his apartment, and half of this article is talking about white supremacism. Is this to cheapen the man’s life? Are people supposed to care less that some dingbat RCMP emptied an entire clip into an unarmed man in his own home? Does he have a violent criminal record? Did he commit crimes motivated by his political beliefs? I have to believe not or else it would be trumpeted.
2. Two to three days later and the police are finally coming forward with what appears to be a cobbled version of events. This reeks of stereotypical cops screwing up and the department coming together to get their story “right.” Protecting their own, not the citizens.
3. This line of what “appeared” to be a weapon is again oh so predictable. Well, what was he holding in his hand? Did a journalist ask this? Have the RCMP said or have they not figured their story out this far yet?
4. Did the man call for police regarding blasting music at 3am as reported here? Is there a record of this? Why did the RCMP decide they could not be bothered? Was it because this man was known to the department as an “enemy?” Do the police have an excuse for this? Great policing all the way around. Let a situation fester then come in with guns drawn.
Jeff Hughes was not a physically intimidating man. Any reasonable person would expect that a professional police organization with that many officers at the scene could have subdued Jeff peacefully. This killing was an atrocity. The officer who fired those shots behaved like a maniac.
Interesting. So if you don’t like someones opinion, it is ok to kill them or allow them to be killed?
You guys would have been great workers in the gulags.
As for the poster who said the cops wouldn’t have known who Jeff was, erm, NO. He had gotten a cease and desist order from a court on the RCMP. Have you got any idea how hard that is? That should show you how hard they harrassed him. So you can bet your bottom dollar that his name and address would have been flagged on their computer system.
By the way, there is no such word as supremist in the English language.
Some of you posters should be ashamed of yourselves, but I know that you aren’t.
Well the Canada that our forefathers fought and died for is no longer… they take our children first and now they take our lives. This tyranny must be stopped, the Canadian government must awake to the true atrocities of humanity… her own citizens by her own hand are being persecuted and killed for the very principals she represents.
God save Canada!!
I think they set this up. Both Jeff Hughes and the female officer were victims in this. I suspect there is no real threat in Canadians starting to think.
This man was rubbed out deliberately, because of his political beliefs. I don’t care what those are, he had rights and they were violated, starting with the right to life.
I’m watching the border right now… I wonder if the cbc had their hand in this
He should have complied with the police, instead of acting like a drugged up junkie. He got shot because of his stupidity, not because of his beliefs (although that’s a plus).
Both Mr. Hughes and the cops aren’t cashing welfare checks so I am having trouble trying to get angry with either of them.
Jazz said: ”He should have complied with the police, instead of acting like a drugged up junkie. He got shot because of his stupidity, not because of his beliefs (although that’s a plus).”
You are an idiot. Why would anyone comply with a bully? That is exactly what the police were to him He did eventually come out of his flat and that was the biggest mistake he made. They didn’t shoot him for any reason other than he was “red flagged” because of his beliefs and they thought him to be a threat.
If there’s any question that Whites are now in a fight for their very right to exist, the comments here prove it. “If Indeed he is a White Supremacist then he is a waste of skin and he and his ilk need to be removed from the gene pool.” What exactly do you mean by “White Supremacist”? A White man who opposes illegal immigration? A White man who is proud of his heritage? Or just, a White man, period?
Whitey, wake up! The rest of the world wants to exterminate you, and if you don’t start defending yourself, you won’t survive the 21st century.
For those saying he’s a waste of flesh and what not how about showing some respect for the dead! I don’t agree with his beliefs but he has the right to believe in whatever he wants to. Canada is a democracy, right? This whole thing sounds really fishy and and why all the police shootings lately in that area? My condolences to friends and family of this man.
cmn first of all it sounds like you’re very confused about democracy and freedom of speech. When your statements and beliefs infringes on other peoples’ rights and/or you’re instigating hate then it is illegal and does not fall within free speech. So no, he does not “have a right” to believe in his neo-nazi ways and white supremacism, such as trying to outlaw race mixing, or deporting non-whites out of the country. And by doing so, those groups use subtlety by distributing propaganda that creates hatred and animosity towards these ethnic minorities.
If he had made any terrorist styled threats or incited violence towards anyone he would have been arrested for it already, but he had not. He promoted a racially homogeneous nation for white people. That does not have anything to do with hating others or killing all the non whites.
You don’t know what you’re talking about, shut up .
This publication deserves credit for trying to give both sides of the story, not just smearing the dead man – although I too wonder how anyone would know Mr. Hughes version of events unless he was on his phone to somebody during the stand-off. Maybe the police have told the family more, but if not, it is callous to keep them in the dark as the public has been kept. Police aren’t perfect, and do make mistakes – perhaps in this case it was the heavy-handedness of the initial contact. But I don’t think the RCMP take pride in shooting unarmed people, whatever their beliefs, so it might be a tragedy for two families.
Jill – to make such a statement means you are guilty of the same crimes you accuse Jeff of. I happen to know the “Cree” woman he brought milk and cigarettes to – I know her VERY well… Though he was a part of a movement, he looked out for her. you never knew him, nor do any of these articles represent him properly. YES, he belonged to a movement, but NO he was not a violent criminal who deserved this. He was a peaceful man who looked out for other tenants in the building he lived in. The reason he was upset about the music, was because he knew my “Cree” friend wouldn’t be getting sleep – and he was leaving that morning for some treatment in Vancouver. he never did drugs, he looked after elderly disabled people, regardless of their ethnicity. You are misinformed and just as judgemental as you judge him to have been. Does that mean police should shoot you? I think not. Police tazered a man to DEATH in Vancouver – cause they feared their lives were at stake over a stapler. Are these the people you want protecting you, when you’re in real danger, or will you put it all down to a movement? Jeff was involved in volunteer projects to protect our environment, and constantly offered help to disabled and impoverished people, fixed computers for free (for those who lived hand to mouth) – you’re a sick person to make such a statement for someone who was obviously a stranger. I never knew this man personally. but he helped my friend, and others in her building constantly. Not to mention, the Georgia Strait Alliance had wonderful things to say about him – for the hundreds of hours he put in, volunteering, for our environment. You are very misinformed!
And Jazz??? Get a grip! You jump to conclusions. READ THE ARTICLES ABOUT THE MAN BEFORE ASSUMING YOU KNOW HIM!
Hughes WAS known to police. Wanna know why??? He beat up a pedaphile who was wacking off in front of children! Now, that’s a reason to call the guy a criminal…..some of you people think white supremacy means nazi. Jeff was not. Ask ANY person who knew him, talked to him, etc. Jazz, Jill, etc – you need to seriously get a grip on reality. Did you read THIS article, that said he helped a “Cree” woman??? No Nazi would help a “Cree” person…..Jeff always protected her, watched out for her – over NINE years. I have known her this entire time. She is distressed over his death. She knew of his movement, but he never made her feel like she was worth less than any other human being. He simply had beliefs about illegal immigration, and Eurocentrism. Lots of white people think they are supreme beings – hence the Indian Act of our land – (which by the way, is what the aparthied of South Africa was based on – and yet that was abolished around the time Bill C-31 was passed.) – My fellow whites don’t even know the constitution of their very own ethnocentric country!
The RCMP abusing its power – never! From framing the FLQ, to botching air India, to beating Polish visitors, the RMCP has a reputation. Even US Law enforcement who cooperate with the RCMP consider their wide powers rather troubling…
He knew the risks. under the circumstances the officer did what she was trained to do. to serve and protect. in the fog of war who knows what unknown unknowns were known and as a result innocent civilian life is dead. this is a good lesson to all citizens as they should be aware not to mess around with canada’s law enforcement agency and as such this individuals behavior led these officers to believe that he was dangerous and worthy of the bullets spent to protect the innocent and to preserve freedom and democracy. the bad guys lost and our way of life continues. here’s a tip kids… don’t go messing around with the police. they will shoot to kill.
i drew the Hitler at the top. it was my present to Jeff,a lover of me and a dear comrade.
We will never forget you Comrade Juff!
i still love you , mea cor!
Some people on here believe that he deserved it because of his belief in White Nationalism?
How come no one seems to have a problem with the jews in Israel saying that it is a “jewish State” and they must protect themselves from being over-run by the non-jews in Israel?
They said it is not right for them to become a minority in their own country, because it wouldn’t be jewish anymore…..just as Jeff Hughes believed about Canada remaining a White, Christian country.