Police watchdog probing death of man, serious injury of bystander in OPP gunfire incident
CTV
The province's police watchdog has invoked its mandate after a 26-year-old man being pursued by police died and an uninvolved 76-year-old bystander was seriously injured in a gunfire exchange involving police in northeastern Ontario.
Ontario’s police watchdog the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has invoked its mandate after a 26-year-old man being pursued by police died and an uninvolved 76-year-old bystander was seriously injured in a gunfire exchange involving Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers in northeastern Ontario, north of the Town of Latchford, Ont.
On March 7 at about 5 p.m., OPP officers in Kirkland Lake conducted a traffic stop in the area of Government Road West and Woods Street to arrest two men for drug-related offences.
“The driver fled,” said SIU officials in a news release late Friday.
“Police attempted to stop the fleeing vehicle in the area of Highway 11 and Portage Bay Road, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.”
Police said the other occupant also fled the vehicle.
After the gunfire was exchanged one of the vehicle’s occupants, a 26-year-old man, was found dead.
OPP issued a shelter-in-place order for the town and the surrounding communities.
