An officer with York Regional Police has been found to have done nothing criminal in the shooting death of a Newmarket man in December.
According to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), officers were called to a domestic dispute at an apartment on Crowder Boulevard on Dec. 7, following a 911 caller who said he heard screaming from a man and a woman. Within 15 minutes, several more concerned 911 calls were made about the situation.
When officers arrived, they entered the building’s stairwell and, according to the SIU, encountered a man armed with a hammer.
The SIU reports an officer fired 14 shots at the man, hitting him 13 times.
The 37-year-old man died at the scene.
Following a probe of the incident conducted by five SIU investigators and three forensic investigators, the agency’s director said he found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates any incident involving police where death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm has occurred.