Canadian police shooting leaves PTSD veteran dead

Victim of Prince George police shooting was veteran suffering from PTSD
By Mike Hager
Vancouver Sun
September 13, 2012

PRINCE GEORGE — A fight between two brothers reportedly precipitated the fatal police shooting of a Prince George veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder earlier this week, according to emails sent by the man just hours before his death.

Greg Matters reportedly sent emails to The Prince George Citizen newspaper on Monday hours before he was shot, detailing a spat with his brother Trevor and saying the police were trying to arrest him though he had done nothing wrong.

The incident took place on the weekend after Trevor, according to Matters’ account, drove aggressively into his mother’s yard at 3 a.m. He said he didn’t know it was his brother at the time and pursued the vehicle.

Matters’ sister Tracey, who returned to Canada from Australia after learning her brother was dead, said he had left the Canadian Forces in 2009 and returned to his hometown in northern British Columbia, where it became clear to those who loved him that he was suffering from PTSD.

“We actually, as a family, suspected he had post-traumatic stress disorder and we sought treatment independently,” she told reporters Thursday. About a year and a half ago, he had begun treatment at the Operational Stress Injury clinic in Vancouver, one of nine across Canada funded by Veterans Affairs.
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