Officers who were involved in a shootout with a gunman who had just killed three people, including a police officer, in the Greater Toronto Area in September have been cleared by Ontario’s “police of police.”
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has concluded that the officers’ use of force during an exchange of fire with the 40-year-old suspect at a Hamilton cemetery was justified given the circumstances.
The SIU report details what happened on September 12, when the suspect — who has since been identified as Sean Petrie — fatally shot a Toronto police officer at a Tim Hortons in Mississauga, still in Ontario.
PHOTO PEEL REGIONAL POLICE/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Sean Petrie
The man then stole a Jeep and drove to an auto repair shop, where he had previously worked, to kill the owner of the place and an employee.
According to information made public by the SIU, the suspect was walking around with a pistol, a plastic bag with extra ammunition and a vest capable of stopping the bullets used in certain police weapons.
After a short run, he was eventually found by police in a Hamilton cemetery that afternoon, where he was shot dead by officers.
The SIU report indicates that the suspect approached a police officer and began shooting in his direction. That’s when four officers opened fire, targeting the suspect, who appeared to be trying to reload his pistol.
“At the end of the investigation, it was not entirely clear which bullets from which police firearms injured the man. Regardless, Director Joseph Martino concluded that the officers’ use of firearms constituted legally justified force in the circumstances,” the SIU explained in a statement.
“As there were therefore no reasonable grounds to believe that the subject officers had behaved unlawfully in discharging their weapon at the complainant, there are no grounds to lay charges in this case. »
The case is therefore officially closed.