Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared two Toronto police officers who shot and killed a man seen walking with what appeared to be a rifle near a school earlier this year.
Officers responded on May 26 to reports of a person with a gun – the Special Investigations Unit said it was later determined that the man was carrying an air rifle.
The SIU says the 27-year-old man was walking “nonchalantly” that afternoon with what appeared to be a rifle, with the firearm sometimes concealed in his jacket and sometimes in plain view.
The watchdog says the man suffered from mental illness and had had a particularly difficult time coping with his mental health the week before.
It says police ordered the man to drop his weapon several times but he raised it and pointed it at them, after which two officers fired at the man – he died at the scene.
SIU Director Joseph Martino says there are no reasonable grounds to believe either officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s death.