News Release
SIU TERMINATES DEATH INVESTIGATION IN GUELPH
Case Number: 11-OCD-071
Mississauga (3 May, 2011) --- Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has terminated its investigation into the actions of Guelph Police Service (GPS) officers in regards to the death of 45-year-old Anthony Fonte Sr. of Guelph on Saturday.
At 2:29 p.m. April 30, 2011 the GPS answered a disturbance call on Alice St. in Guelph. When the officers arrived it was determined that two men had sustained stab wounds. They were subsequently taken to hospital. Mr. Fonte, the suspect in the stabbing, went into his basement apartment at 199 Alice Street. Due to the nature of the call the GPS’s Tactical Rescue Unit (TRU) responded and cordoned off the area surrounding the home. Numerous attempts were made by the GPS to contact Mr. Fonte. These attempts were unsuccessful. Members of the TRU team eventually entered the home at 9:15 p.m. and located Mr. Fonte dead in his basement apartment.
The SIU assigned five investigators and three forensic investigators to this matter. The investigators gathered forensic evidence and interviewed a witness to the incident.
Based on the interview and the postmortem examination concluding that Mr. Fonte died of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, no evidence exists to indicate that any officer of the GPS contributed to the death of Mr. Fonte. As a result of these preliminary enquiries the Director of the SIU, Ian Scott, has ended the SIU’s investigation of this incident.
If you or someone you know has been negatively affected by an incident under SIU investigation and would like support, the Affected Persons Program is here to help. You can reach us at 1-877-641-1897. Support is free, confidential, and available 24/7, every day of the year.
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