Northern Ont. police cleared in case in which officer fired 6 gunshots at fleeing suspect

Police fired six shots at the jeep when the driver came at them. (SIU photo)

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says police did nothing wrong when an officer fired six shots at a suspect driving a vehicle toward them.

The incident took place in September 2024 on Highway 11 in Moonbeam, Ont., near Kapuskasing.

According to the SIU’s incident narrative, police were alerted to a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance. The complainant left the home in a jeep heading west on Highway 11.

" He had reportedly cut himself with a knife and threatened self-harm," the SIU said.

An Ontario Provincial Police officer heading east on Highway 11 saw the jeep drive past him. He turned his cruiser around and began to follow the complainant at a distance.

He and another officer developed a plan where they would stop the jeep near a construction zone.

The second officer was already ahead of them, and eventually positioned his vehicle ahead of the jeep, so there was a cruiser in front and behind the complainant’s jeep.

“The convoy approached a construction zone in which the roadway was reduced to one lane,” the SIU said.

“Concrete barriers and a guard rail lined the north and south sides of the lane, respectively.”

The officer at the front of the convoy stopped at a traffic light controlling the flow of vehicles for the construction zone. When the light turned green, the officer went forward, the jeep following behind and the other cruiser still behind the jeep.

A short distance later, the cruiser in the front stopped quickly at an angle, lining up with the guard rail in place for the road construction.

“Very quickly, the complainant reversed the jeep and struck the front end of the … cruiser” that was behind him.

“He then accelerated forward and turned left, attempting to drive through the opening between the guard rail and the driver’s side of the … cruiser” that was ahead of him.

By that point, the officer was outside of his vehicle “and was standing by his open door,” the SIU said.

“He fired six shots in rapid succession as the jeep travelled towards him, struck the rear driver’s side of his cruiser, and came to a stop. None of the six shots struck the complainant. After the gunfire, he exited the Jeep and fled the scene. He was arrested the following day without incident.”

In his decision, SIU director Joseph Martino said whether it was reasonable for police to fire their weapons depends on the circumstances of each situation.

In this case, Martino said it was clear the officer fired “believing it was necessary to defend himself from a reasonably apprehended attack.”

“The complainant was accelerating the jeep vehicle at close range in the direction of the officer,” Martino said.

“There can be little doubt that the officer would have felt it necessary to act to protect himself from an imminent risk of grievous bodily harm and death.”

Considering the risk the officer faced with someone intentionally accelerating a motor vehicle toward them, Martino said the officer was left “with very few options” to defend himself.

“He chose to meet a very real threat of death with a resort to lethal force of his own,” he wrote in his decision.

“For the foregoing reasons, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file is closed.”

Read the full decision here.