Inquest to be held into 2017 deaths of couple shot in Ontario hospital

A date has been set for an inquest into the 2017 deaths of a married couple following shootings in a southern Ontario hospital.

During the incident in Cobourg, Ont., 70-year-old William Thomas Ryan, known as Tom, shot and killed his wife Gladys Helen Ryan, 76, while the couple was in hospital.

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Tom was subsequently shot and killed by Cobourg police.

An inquest into the man’s death is mandatory under the Coroners Act but a combined inquest for both individuals was requested by the Chief Coroner.

The office of Ontario’s solicitor general says the inquest will begin on September 18, will hear from 18 witnesses, and may make recommendations to the agencies involved.

The Special Investigations Unit, which probes police-involved shootings, cleared the officers involved of wrongdoing, saying in a 2018 report that the force used during the incident was “justified.”