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Inquest called into man shot by police on Highway 59

An inquest has been called into the death of Haki Sefa after an officer-involved shooting in 2015.
An inquest has been called into the death of Haki Sefa after an officer-involved shooting in 2015. Cropo Funeral Chapel

WINNIPEG — An inquest has been called into the death of a Winnipeg man who died after a police-involved shooting on Highway 59 last year.

Haki Sefa, 44, was killed September 20, 2015, after a police pursuit that started in Winnipeg and ended near Highway 59 and Kirkness Road.

A person has died following an officer involved shooting on Highway 59,. Rudi Pawlychyn / Global News

Sefa was a father of four.

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READ: Funeral for Haki Sefa to be held

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The Independent Investigation Unit was called in to investigate after what was described as an “interaction” between the officers and Sefa ended with police discharging their weapons.  But the civilian director of the IIU later recused himself from the investigation because of his involvement in a prosecution of the shooting victim in 2011.  An external investigator was hired and the results of that probe have still not been released.

On Wednesday Manitoba’s Acting Chief Medical Examiner, John K Younes ruled Sefa’s death met the criteria for a mandatory inquest:

19(3) Where, as a result of an investigation, there are reasonable grounds to believe:

(a) that a person while a resident in a correctional institution, jail or prison or while an involuntary resident in a psychiatric facility as defined in The Mental Health Act, or while a resident in a developmental centre as defined in The Vulnerable Persons Living with a Mental Disability Act, died as a result of a violent act, undue means or negligence or in an unexpected or unexplained manner or suddenly of unknown cause; or

(b) that a person died as a result of an act or omission of a peace officer in the course of duty;
the chief medical examiner shall direct a provincial judge to hold an inquest with respect to the death.

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The medical examiner concluded Sefa died from multiple gunshot wounds and the “manner of death was homicide”.

An inquest has also been called into the shooting death of Steven Douglas Campbell.

The medical officer ruled Campbell, 39, died November 21 2015 after he allegedly tried to run over an RCMP officer who had pulled him over for possible impaired driving.

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