Editor's warning: This story contains graphic details that can be potentially distressing and upsetting.
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has concluded their investigation into a March 2024 incident of two Halton Police (HRPS) officers and their fatal shooting of a 29-year-old suspect in Oakville.
After a four month investigation, both of the officers (or "subject officials", or SOs) have been cleared of wrongdoing. SIU says that on assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined, "there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s death."
The two officers shot a suspect assaulting a 911 caller during a house call back in March this year, and the suspect was shot when he did not respond to officers' command to stop his violent attack of another person. Oakville News first reported on this story the morning after the incident:
Read more here: Man shot and killed by Halton Police in Oakville residence
The two officers (of undisclosed names, as per section 34 of the Special Investigations Unit Act, 2019) responded to a 911 house call in Oakville in the early morning of March 2, 2024, where the caller reported that a man was stabbing another resident of the house. The caller struck the man across the head with a frying pan, but the attack continued. At that point, the caller had left the residence to call 911.
Officers arrived on scene and entered the home. Officers ordered the man to get off the resident, but the man continued his attack. One officer discharged his firearm five times, and another officer discharged seven rounds. The 29-year-old man was declared deceased at the scene.
As part of the SIU Director’s Report (in this Case # 24-OFD-098), a total of six SIU Investigators and four SIU Forensic Investigators were assigned to the case. Consulted evidence on the case also included:
- Five civilian witnesses (interviewed in the days following the shooting)
- Four witness officials with reviewed notes
- Physical evidence of firearms, bulelts and magazines (pictured above)
- In-car camera footage of the incident
- Several components of forensic evidence.
What was not added into the report, however, were interviews with the two subject officials. Both SOs declined to interview for the case and declined to provide notes. Declining to submit either is within the legal rights of a subject official under investigation.
A full copy of the SIU investigation report can be read online here.