News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Investigation into Police-Involved Shooting During Takedown at Plaza in Toronto

Case Number: 25-TFI-113   

Other News Releases Related to Case 25-TFI-113

SIU Investigating After Male Shot, Wounded by Officer in North York

Mississauga, ON (18 July, 2025) ---
In the afternoon of March 23, 2025, members of the Toronto Police Service Guns and Gangs Task Force began to covertly track a Nissan.  They had reason to believe that the driver – a 17-year-old male – was in possession of illegal firearms, and the team had obtained a search warrant to that effect. In a plaza on Islington Avenue, the task force executed a takedown. When the driver attempted to escape through the rear passenger-side door, an officer shot him in the right leg. The occupants of the Nissan were removed from the vehicle and arrested. Multiple firearms were located on their persons and in the Nissan, including a semi-automatic pistol on the driver. The driver was taken to hospital following his arrest and diagnosed with a gunshot wound to the lateral aspect of the right knee joint. On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the shooting.
     
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.

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

Lisez ce communiqué en français.

Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES