Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating a fatal police shooting of a man in the City of Kawartha Lakes on Thursday morning.
In its preliminary investigation, the Special Investigations Unit says around 10:05 a.m. a City of Kawartha Lakes OPP officer attended a rural residence on Devitts Road for an ongoing investigation. The area is near Highways 49 and 37, just north of the village of Bobcaygeon.
The SIU say the officer engaged with a man who had a firearm.
“There was an interaction and the officer discharged his firearm before retreating,” the SIU said.
Additional officers arrived on scene and located the man. Paramedics pronounced him deceased at the scene, the SIU said.
The identity of the man has not been released.
In a tweet issued around 12:30 p.m., the Central Region OPP said officers had attended a residence for a theft investigation. Members of the emergency response team were among those who attended the scene.
“During an interaction a firearm was discharged,” OPP said at the time. “One person was seriously injured.”
OPP said there was no concern for public safety.
However, around 3:10 p.m., the SIU reported the man had died.
The SIU has assigned three investigators and two forensic investigators to the case. One subject official and three witness officials have been designated at this time, the SIU said.
The SIU investigates any police interactions with civilians that result in serious injury or death, the discharge of a firearm or a reported sexual assault.