TORONTO — The province’s police watchdog has cleared a Toronto police officer who shot and injured a suspect following gunfire outside a townhouse in northwest Toronto last year.
Five other people were sent to hospital in the aftermath of the April 16 shooting in the Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue area, resulting in what police called a chaotic scene. More than 100 charges, including attempted murder and various firearm offences, were laid against four suspects.
The Special Investigations Unit said responding officers heard gunshots and saw several men get into a waiting vehicle and take off.
READ MORE: Four suspects face more than 100 charges after mass shooting in Toronto
The vehicle was tracked and boxed in by police, causing its four occupants to flee, the SIU said Friday.
Three were arrested without incident but one suspect “encountered” the subject officer on the front lawn of a house and was shot twice.
SIU Director Tony Loparco said the officer was heard telling the suspect to drop his gun — a handgun was found on the lawn after the shooting — and had grounds to use lethal force.
“I am satisfied he would have been fearful for his life at the time of his firearm discharges. The officer would have had every reason to believe that the man had just been involved in a shooting and was armed with a firearm and prepared to use it,” Loparco said in a release.
The SIU’s investigation drew on police statements, witness accounts, police radio communications, DNA testing and surveillance video, the watchdog said. The subject officer did not allow an interview or provide duty notes, it added.
“As the security camera recordings vividly make clear, the situation that confronted the officer was volatile, rapidly evolving and fraught with danger,” Loparco said.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
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