Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has issued an update on its investigation into a police shooting in Kawartha Lakes on November 26 that resulted in a 33-year-old man and his one-year-old son sustaining gunshot wounds.
The baby was pronounced dead at the scene, and the father succumbed to his injuries almost one week later.
In a media release issued on Monday (December 14), the SIU states it is not releasing the names of the victims out of respect for the family who has requested privacy.
“Understandably, there is a pressing public interest in this case, including how the child died and whether it was gunfire from the father or OPP officers that caused the death,” the SIU states in the media release.
“The SIU is working to make these determinations. Doing so, however, requires time as key evidence must be examined methodically in line with best practices.”
The SIU says it has interviewed 14 witness officers to date, and three additional witness officers will be interviewed on Tuesday (December 15). Twelve civilian witnesses have been interviewed.
The SIU also says two police-issued rifles and one police-issued pistol were collected. The three officers who discharged these firearms multiple times were designated as subject officers.
A pistol was also located in the pickup truck. The pistol from the pickup truck has been sent to the Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) for examination. The police-issued firearms will be submitted to the CFS in line with their procedures, once the SIU is granted approval to do so from the CFS.
A post-mortem of the child was conducted on November 28th and of the father on December 4th. The SIU states it is awaiting the reports of the post-mortem examinations.
The SIU says examination of the pickup truck continues at the CFS and involves several steps that must be completed in sequential order. Following the exterior examination of the pickup truck — which was completed Thursday (December 10) — blood pattern analysis by an expert was begun of the truck’s interior and is ongoing.
As this is happening, the SIU states, its forensic investigators are documenting, photographing, and collecting evidence such as projectiles that are retrievable without affecting other evidence. Once this step is complete, a trajectory analysis will be performed with the assistance of the CFS to aid in understanding the direction of travel of projectiles through the vehicle.
Following 3D imagery of the truck, the truck will be released to the SIU forensic investigators for another thorough search for evidence. Any relevant evidence obtained will be sent for testing, and in the case of projectiles, will be compared to the firearms collected.
“The SIU assures the public that it is working as expeditiously as possible,” the media release states. “To the extent information regarding the results of the aforementioned-examinations can be released, once they are completed, without undermining the integrity of the investigation, the SIU will do so.”
