News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Shooting Death in London
Case Number: 08-OCD-206
Other News Releases Related to Case 08-OCD-206
"There is no evidence to suggest that the officers contributed to the death of the 50-year-old man, who died as the result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head," concluded SIU Director Ian Scott.
On Tuesday September 30, 2008 at approximately 4:15 p.m., the London Police Service was called to a home on Millbank Drive about a missing man. During a search of the home and backyard, an officer spotted the man sitting on a chair inside a garden shed and holding a sawed-off shotgun. The officer drew his service pistol and called out several times for the man to drop the gun. He refused and the officer retreated to the rear of the home and called for backup. Within seconds, officers heard a single gunshot coming from inside the shed. The man was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
During the course of the SIU investigation, two subject officers and four witness officers were interviewed as well as four members of the family.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (municipal, regional and provincial police officers, police officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations