Witness says Myles Gray ‘didn’t look right’ before fatal 2015 fight with VPD officers

By Canadian Press on January 20, 2026.

VANCOUVER — A woman who saw Myles Gray before his fatal fight with a group of Vancouver police officers in August 2015 says he “just didn’t look right,” as he paced up and down the street near her workplace mumbling to himself.

Andreah Pilgrim was testifying on day two of a public hearing into Gray’s death in Vancouver, where seven Vancouver police officers involved in the altercation have denied misconduct allegations.

Pilgrim says she was working at an insurance business near the border between Vancouver and Burnaby, B.C., and was outside when she saw Gray.

She says Gray was pacing back and forth near a bus stop, looking under bushes, putting his fists in the air and mumbling to himself, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Pilgrim says Gray was muscular and “well-built” and she saw him again when she drove for a coffee, testifying she had a “bad feeling” when she heard sirens and saw police vehicles and an ambulance “flying up the street.”

The hearing began by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner began on Monday, hearing testimony from Gray’s mother Margaret, who has said there is a need for a accountability because no one was charged or disciplined as a result of her 33-year-old son’s death

The officers have all denied allegations of abuse of authority and neglect of duty related to Gray’s death, but it’s not clear whether any of them will testify, since the police complaint commissioner cannot compel them to do so.

Gray died after suffering injuries including ruptured testicles and fractures in his eye socket, nose, voice box and rib.

Pilgrim says she called police the day after noticing Gray, after learning of the deadly altercation from the news, giving a statement to investigators about what she saw.

“I will always just say he just didn’t look right. There was just something odd about his behaviour,” she said.

Pilgrim’s testimony concluded Tuesday morning, and the hearing continued with testimony from Muhammed Reza, who called 911 on Gray after he sprayed Reza’s mother with a hose and made comments about her appearance.

The hearing is scheduled over 10 weeks and will hear from witnesses including officers and other emergency responders, a police use-of-force expert, Vancouver Police Union representatives and others.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press