SIU won’t lay charges against London officers in Samuel Maloney’s 2016 death

The director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against London police officers in connection with a 2016 shooting at a home on Duchess Avenue that left a man dead.

According to the SIU, police executed a search warrant at Samuel Maloney’s home at roughly 6:02 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2016, to arrest him for mischief to data and unauthorized use of a computer. The SIU says Maloney, 35, was hired to develop software and a database for a cinema and that on Dec. 11, 2016, all of the subscribers of the cinema’s website were sent a video by email that included an anti-Semitic diatribe and a manifesto entitled Welcome to Atlantis, allegedly authored by Maloney.

The SIU says the emergency response unit was chosen to execute the search warrant, based on previous incidents with Maloney and concern over weapons in the home. Police also knew it was possible that Maloney’s spouse and two small children might be in the home at the time.

The SIU says that one officer confronted Maloney in the computer room while two officers found and remained with the two kids in the rear bedroom. The first officer confronted Maloney, who shot the officer in the abdomen with a crossbow. The officer was uninjured thanks to his ballistics vest.

The officer then fired three shots from his semi-automatic rifle, one hitting the crossbow, another hit Maloney in the upper left shoulder area, and the third missed Maloney.

The officer backed out of the room and Maloney, holding a hatchet above his head and screaming, ran to the rear bedroom. When he reached the bedroom, the second officer shot at him five times with a submachine gun; three bullets hit Maloney in the chest. Maloney fell at the bedroom doorway, the third officer discharged his rifle once, hitting Maloney in the head.

The SIU concluded that the officers only fired in response to Maloney’s actions.

The police watchdog says Maloney chose to arm himself with a loaded crossbow and fire it at close range at an officer, which then resulted in the officer shooting him. The SIU added that if the officer hadn’t worn his protective vest, he could have been gravely injured or killed.

After the incident with the first officer, the SIU says that Maloney was told to exit the computer room with his arms up but he instead armed himself with a hatchet and ran screaming towards the dark bedroom where another officer was with Maloney’s wife and children.

As a result of that action, the officer fired at Maloney. The third officer fired at Maloney believing that he was still armed with a firearm.