Man killed in police-involved shooting in Scarborough was ‘threatening motorists’: SIU

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says that a man fatally shot by a Toronto police officer on Monday afternoon was in the roadway “threatening motorists.”

Speaking to the media at the scene, SIU Spokesperson Kristy Denette said that several 911 calls were made after a man was seen “acting in a threatening manner, potentially maybe kind of a carjacking situation” on Ellesmere Road near Warden Avenue.

She said that this individual, who has not been identified at this time, ended up in front of a medical building at 520 Ellesmere, which is where an interaction occurred with police.

Denette said that one officer fired a single shot, while another discharged a Taser.

“The man was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced deceased,” she said, noting that the SIU recovered a hammer at the scene.

“As far as the nature of how that hammer may or may not have been used in this incident, we don’t yet have that.”

The time between the first 911 call and the man being shot was 10 to 15 minutes, Denette said.

Investigators from the civilian agency are now in the process of interviewing witnesses and contacting those who may have video of the incident, she added.

Witness Smit Chaudhari told CTV News Toronto that he saw a man with a “big hammer. He said that he then saw a female police officer jump and shoot the man in the leg. The two responding officers then “came down on him and tried to handcuff him,” he said.

“I seen the police officer with the emergency kit on his chest, maybe trying stop his bleeding. … It’s sad. I don’t know why the police were chasing the guy, but I feel bad for those involved in this,” Chaudhari said.

Several patients and staff told CTV News Toronto that they had no idea what was taking place until they left the building and saw the commotion.

Denette, who would not confirm if the man was experiencing a “mental health episode” when he was shot, said that an autopsy would be done at a later time.

She also indicated that she expects that one subject official, notably the officer who fired the gun that hit the man, will be criminally investigated by the SIU, which is a civilian agency that investigates when police are involved in an incident that results in death, serious injury, sexual assault, and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

A portion of Warden Avenue was closed as police investigated, but has since reopened.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Beth Macdonell