Ontario’s police watchdog has confirmed the death of a one-year-old boy during the November 26th confrontation in Kawartha Lakes between police and a 33-year-old man was a result of being shot by police.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) issued the confirmation in a news release on Thursday (February 11).
“Upon receipt and review of additional forensic evidence in this case, including the results of the postmortem examination performed on a child, and reports prepared by the Centre of Forensic Sciences of analyses conducted with respect to bloodstains in the pickup truck, the trajectory of shots that struck the truck, and firearms, cartridge cases and projectiles, the SIU can today confirm that the child’s death on November 26, 2020 in Kawartha Lakes was the result of being shot by police,” reads the statement from the SIU.
The confirmation comes 11 weeks after the incident in which the boy’s father was also shot by police, later succumbing to his injuries in hospital.
Police had been responding to a report that the man had abducted his son. When they attempted to stop the man’s pick-up truck, it collided with another vehicle and seriously injured an OPP officer.
Police confronted the driver and three officers fired shots at the pick-up truck, injuring the man. The body of the infant was later found in the pick-up truck, along with a handgun. No information has been released on whether the driver brandished or fired the handgun during the incident.
In its previous statement on the incident, issued on January 15, the SIU indicated the three police officers who were directly involved in the incident were yet to be interviewed.
“Subject officers are under no legal obligation to speak with the SIU but may if they choose to do so,” the SIU said at the time.
Today’s statement from the SIU provides no further information on witness interviews or any other details, other than to say the investigation is ongoing.
CBC reports that SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon wrote in an email on Thursday that the three officers have “not as yet availed themselves of an opportunity to be interviewed.”
This story has been updated with more information about the status of the investigation.
