No charges will be laid after a 37-year-old man was fatally shot by police in Newmarket in late 2023, Ontario’s police watchdog said Saturday.
According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), there’s no reason to believe an officer with York Regional Police committed a criminal offence when the cop shot the man. In a news release issued Saturday, the SIU said the man was shot after he followed police into a stairwell with a hammer.
On Dec. 7, 2023, officers were called to an apartment building on Crowder Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. for a report of a domestic disturbance, the SIU said at the time.
A separate news release from York police at the time said they received multiple calls from residents “about the sounds of screaming and a loud disturbance occurring in an apartment.”
In a news release issued Saturday, the SIU said the officer shot at the man 14 times, hitting him with 13 bullets. The man was pronounced dead at the apartment building.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, allegations of sexual assault, or the discharge of a firearm at a person.