The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says it is investigating an officer-involved fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man in a downtown Toronto apartment early Tuesday.
Toronto police said officers were originally called to an apartment building on George Street near Dundas Street at around 3:30 a.m. in regards to a missing woman investigation.
Upon arrival at the third floor apartment unit there was an interaction between police and a man, the SIU said, adding two officers shot at the man, striking him.
Police said they had received reports a man was armed with a gun.
The SIU said he was transported to hospital where he was later pronounced dead just after 4:15 a.m. He was identified by the SIU as 45-year-old Gedi Ali Gedi.
The agency, who investigates incidents involving officers, said two police-issued guns and two edged weapons were found at the scene along with video evidence.
Acting Toronto Police Chief James Ramer told reporters no officers were injured in the incident.
In a press release Tuesday afternoon, police said the original missing woman investigation is now being treated as a suspicious death investigation.
“Investigators now have reason to believe a person has died under suspicious circumstances,” the release read. “It is not yet known if it is the missing woman police were initially searching for.”
Police said a body has not yet been found.
Global News has learned the missing woman’s case is connected to 33-year-old Amanda Killeen. Her cousin, who told Global News her name was Kaysha, said Killeen had dropped her three children off at school on Friday and by the end of day, had vanished.
Police had put out a release on Monday saying they were concerned for her safety.
Killeen’s mother, Patricia Stinson, told Global News she saw her daughter on Wednesday and spoke to her on the phone Thursday prior to her disappearance, saying everything “seemed normal, her mindset was good.”
Stinson said Killeen’s ex-boyfriend lived in the apartment building but she didn’t know her daughter was going to visit him. She said Killeen told her cousin it was a toxic on-and-off relationship.
Killeen’s mother still holds out hope they will find her daughter.
Investigators are asking anyone who was in the building or area and may have seen anything suspicious between Feb. 19 and Feb. 21 to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of officers responding to calls that have resulted in death, serious injury, or alleged sexual assault.
—With files from Catherine McDonald