The Special Investigations Unit says it is investigating after a police officer fatally shot a 37-year-old man following a domestic disturbance call in Newmarket, Ont., on Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the SIU, Kristy Denette, said York Regional Police officers responded to an apartment on Crowder Boulevard, near Leslie Street and Mulock Drive, at around 10:30 p.m. for reports of a domestic disturbance.
York Regional Police said they “received multiple calls from citizens about the sounds of screaming and a loud disturbance occurring in an apartment.”
Denette said a man was found in the stairwell of the apartment building,
“There was an interaction between officers and the man. The man was shot,” Denette said.
Paramedics responded but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, she said.
One neighbour, who asked only to be identified as Dar, said she called 911 after she heard what “sounded like gunshots” during a domestic disturbance.
She said she let police into the building and saw a “guy come flying out of the elevator,” before the incident unfolded in the stairwell with police.
Dar said the alleged domestic incident “sounded like a loud fight” and she could hear a woman “crying and yelling.”
A woman was taken to hospital in non-life-threatening condition, Denette said, adding there was a relationship between the woman and the man.
It is unclear what led the officer to fire their gun during the interaction.
Denette said video surveillance is being gathered and reviewed. She said it is too early to speak to specific details regarding the interaction.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of officers when there is serious injury or death of a civilian.
— with files from Global News’ Isaac Callan
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