Police Won’t Face Criminal Charges in Shooting Death of Teen in Mississauga
Published November 4, 2018 at 5:38 pm
A Peel Regional Police officer will not face criminal charges in connection with the shooting death of a 15-year-old in Mississauga, according to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
The SIU recently announced that Tony Loparco, the director of the SIU, determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer in a fatal shooting incident involving a teenager in July 2017.
The SIU says that on July 27, 2017, the teen, who reportedly attempted to rob several stores and individuals at gun point, was in an Audi sedan that had been reported stolen. According to the SIU report, he was accompanied by two male and two female youths, all under the age of 17 years.
At 1:33 a.m., the teen, who was alone at the time, reportedly entered a Petro Canada station at 1520 Britannia Road West and pointed what appeared to be a black handgun at the attendant who put cash from the register on the counter.
The report says the teen then left the station without taking the cash, but returned with two of the other male youths and attempted to grab the cash that was still on the counter.
The report says the other two youths pushed the cash back toward the attendant, and away from the teen, and then escorted him out of the store.
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The other youths reportedly drove off without the teen.
Immediately following the aborted robbery of the Petro Canada station, the teen reportedly entered a Pizza Pizza at 6065 Creditview Road and pointed the same black handgun at an employee standing by the cash register. The report says the employee grabbed the gun, and the teen took it back and fled from the establishment.
The report says that, before officers arrived on scene to investigate the robberies, the teen attempted to ‘car-jack’, at gunpoint, a vehicle being driven by a female occupant.
The teen reportedly attempted to carjack other drivers after that.
According to the report, a witness who had reportedly been the victim of an attempted carjacking recorded the officer discharging his C8 rifle at the teen.
The report says an officer fired at the teen after a brief stand-off in which the teen reportedly raised his handgun in the direction of an officer.
The teen was struck in the abdomen and transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he was admitted for surgical treatment of the gunshot wound.
The teen succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 26, 2017.
According to the report, the SIU determined that the officer used reasonable force under the circumstances.
“With respect to the first of these criteria, it is clear from the statement of the SO [officer] that he believed that he, or others, were at risk of death or grievous bodily harm at the time that he discharged his rifle,” the report reads.
“He based that belief on his observations at the time that the Complainant had in his possession a handgun, that numerous witnesses had called in to 911 to report that the Complainant was in possession of a firearm and had used that weapon to attempt to rob them, that the Complainant was aware of the police presence but had refused to comply with repeated commands by himself and other police officers to drop his weapon, and that the Complainant was pointing the gun in the SO’s direction and it appeared that he was about to shoot.”
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