Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has determined no criminal charges will be laid after a 21-year-old man was shot by an Ottawa Police officer in September 2017.
The SIU was called in to investigate an incident in which two men, a 21-year-old and a 37-year-old, encountered two Ottawa Police officers in the Brittany Dr. area September 12, 2017, and were injured after police opened fire.
According to the SIU report, Ottawa Police were conducting surveillance on the suspects in connection with a firearms offense that evening. The officers were attempting to box in the suspects’ vehicle when one of the suspects pulled out a gun and pointed it toward one of the officers. The officers then fired their own guns, hitting the 21-year-old man in the shoulder.
The 37-year-old was believed to have been grazed by a bullet and was slightly injured.
The younger suspect apologized to the officers while being arrested, saying he thought the officers were trying to rob him. The SIU says the officers were in civilian clothes but they were also wearing vests that said “Police” and one of the officers was wearing a balaclava that also said “Police” on it and were, therefore, clearly identifiable as police officers.
The SIU says, since the officers believed one the suspects was about to shoot them, their use of force was justified.