SIU clears Ottawa police officers in June shooting death of 56-year-old man

Published Oct 23, 2023 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read

St. Patrick Street was closed between Sussex Drive and Parent Avenue after a person was pronounced dead after sustaining a gunshot wound on Sunday, June 25, 2023. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

Two Ottawa police officers have been cleared by the province’s Special Investigations Unit in the June 25 shooting death of a 56-year-old man in the ByWard Market area.

“The officers shot the man when he advanced at them and ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon,” the SIU said in a report Monday. It said SIU director Joseph Martino had found no reasonable grounds to believe the officers had committed a criminal offence in connection with the fatal shooting.

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The SIU, an independent civilian government agency that investigates the conduct of police officials in incidents that may have resulted in the death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm on a person, said police had been called to the area of Sussex Drive and St. Patrick Street on June 25 for reports of a man threatening people with a knife.

Officers responded to a 911 call about a person with a knife at about 2:10 p.m. in the area around Sussex and St. Patrick, according to a police report on the afternoon of the shooting.

“During the response, one person was shot. The individual was transported to hospital by paramedics,” police said at the time.

The SIU stepped in later that Sunday. Once a matter has been referred to the SIU, police often no longer comment on the matter.

On that Sunday afternoon, officers had run police tape to prevent pedestrians from walking down St. Patrick between Parent Avenue and Sussex. An ambulance remained parked in front of 143 St. Patrick, a heritage stone building in the Notre Dame Cathedral compound known as the “archbishop’s palace.” A number of disposable blue gloves littered the street.

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A man who lives on St. Patrick, who declined to be named, said at the time he was inside when he heard two shots.

The SIU report Monday stated the Ottawa police had notified it about the man’s death at 3:16 p.m. the day of the shooting. Police said they had been called to the scene after reports of a man waving a knife around and lunging at cars, the report stated.

SIU forensic investigators got to the scene at 11:15 p.m. and found a pool of blood on St. Patrick, surrounded by medical equipment and debris. Cartridge cases and a stun gun were nearby, and a large kitchen knife was found on a sidewalk.

According to the SIU incident narrative in the report, officers arrived at the scene to find a man of “unsound mind at the time” carrying a knife, pacing at the intersection of St. Patrick and Sussex, “on at least one occasion speaking to his hand as if it were a cell phone.”

Despite repeated orders to drop the weapon, the man continued to move toward officers, and a conducted energy weapon was used to immobilize the man, but it failed to do so, and when he continued to advance, he was shot multiple times, the report stated.

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Police administered emergency first aid to the man, including CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator, before paramedics arrived, the report said.

“The Complainant was repeatedly asked to stop and drop the knife. … Unfortunately, the use of the CEW did not stop the Complainant’s advance, and the officers were left with little recourse but to use their firearms to protect themselves and each other,” Marino wrote in the report.

— With files from Joanne Laucius