Killing of Hamilton man Erixon Kabera raises questions about policing and oversight

The Special Investigations Unit's (SIU) decision not to charge two Hamilton police officers who killed Erixon Kabera in November was not surprising to some experts, who are raising concerns over the police response and limits of the SIU's mandate.

Dave Shellnutt, a lawyer who has represented people in cases where police force was used, told CBC Hamilton the officers who responded to the scene appeared to be either "inexperienced or unprepared," while a former police officer also questioned why more units weren't dispatched to the scene.

Kabera was killed in November after two Hamilton Police Service (HPS) officers fired 24 shots at him, striking him eight times. The SIU report clearing the officers was released on June 6.

According to the SIU, Kabera was holding a replica firearm resembling a semi-automatic pistol, which he pointed at officers. SIU director Joseph Martino said the officers did not commit a criminal offence.

The report doesn't mention Kabera, referring to him as "the complainant."

"The officers honestly believed they were looking at an actual gun in the complainant's possession. Though mistaken, their misapprehension was a reasonable one," said Martino in the report.

CBC spoke with several experts who were not involved directly with the case, asking them to review the SIU report. They included a lawyer, a police oversight researcher and a former police officer.

The SIU report said after Kabera pointed the replica at police in his apartment hallway, one officer fired eight rounds while backing away and fell, losing her gun, according to the report. Kabera kept walking forward. Then the second officer shot six to eight more rounds, while Kabera "remained unfazed."

The second officer also fell. The first officer fired her Taser at Kabera, which the report says, did not affect him, and he continued to advance toward the officers. The second officer fired seven to eight shots after replacing his magazine, that's when Kabera "collapsed and landed on his back." 

"In that hail of gunfire, they hit [Kabera], and miraculously they don't hit or injure anybody else," said Shellnutt, the lawyer, adding the gunfire "put the entire building at risk."

Wilfrid Laurier University public safety assistant professor, Jen Magnus, who is also a former Calgary police officer and Grande Prairie Police Service instructor, told CBC Hamilton it's hard to know from the report how the officers themselves feel about their actions. 

"I'm sure no one's harder on themselves than these two officers, just judging what they did and the decisions they made that day," she said. "It's just a horrible experience for everyone involved."

Magnus said in her view, the officers acted appropriately under pressure, but questioned how the police response was handled.

According to the SIU report, police were initially called to the building where Kabera lived on Main Street W. when a neighbour called the non-emergency police line to report a man with a gun had been at their front door 15 minutes prior.