SIU investigating after man holding knife shot by police at Brampton apartment

A man was shot by police on the sixth floor of a Brampton apartment building and taken to hospital with serious injuries. CP24’s Arda Zakarian reports.

Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a 35-year-old man who was holding a knife was shot and seriously injured by police at a Brampton apartment building following a call about a family dispute.

Peel police said they were called to a sixth-floor unit in the area of Malta Avenue and Ray Lawson Boulevard at around 9:50 a.m.

“On arrival, officers spoke with the family members involved, and when they tried to make contact with the individual, the subject that was shot, he did produce an edged weapon and was subsequently shot by police,” Const. Tyler Bell-Morena told reporters at the scene.

The man was stabilized at the scene before being transported to a trauma centre in Toronto, where he is now in stable condition and expected to recover, Bell-Morena said.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) confirmed they are now probing the shooting.

SIU Spokesperson Kristy Denette said an officer fired a single shot at the 35-year-old man, who was holding a knife in his hand, and he was struck in the abdomen.

“I can tell you one officer discharged (their weapon), so that would mean one subject official will be designated, and likely the other officer would be designated as a witness officer,” Denette said.

She confirmed that two family members were with the man at the apartment when officers arrived, and that one of them placed the call to police.

“An individual, the family member, called police just concerned about her family member and the way he was acting,” Denette said. “As far as any specifics that may have been occurring prior to police arrival, that would be something that Peel Regional Police would be looking at in a parallel investigation.”

Preliminary information indicates that the man has some mental health issues, Denette said.

Bell-Morena said officers had been called to the apartment before, but it was not clear if those calls were in relation to the man who was shot. He said officers arrived at the scene very quickly after the call was received and it was not clear whether they had been advised of the man’s mental health problems, or whether crisis workers had also been dispatched.

Denette said CCTV footage from the building, as well as footage from body-worn cameras will be part of the investigation.

No officers were injured and police said the incident was quickly “contained.”

Multiple police vehicles were visible outside the residential building Wednesday. Peel police are advising people to avoid the area for the time being as there is a large police presence for the investigation.

The SIU is an arm’s length provincial agency called in to investigate anytime police are involved in a death or serious injury.