Officer cleared in shooting that left 21-year-old dead

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared a York Regional Police officer of any wrong-doing in a shooting that left a 21-year-old man dead.

The shooting took place after police responded to a 911 call about a man with a gun near Leslie Street and State Farm Parkway in Aurora around 9 p.m. April 12. There were also reports that people had been shot, YRP said in a tweet.

Officers attended the scene, encountered a man, and then fired several shots. He was rushed the man to hospital without vital signs where he was pronounced dead.

The Special Investigations Unit says it was the man with the gun who called 911 and no shooting had taken place.

In fact, the man didn’t have a firearm but was wielding a pellet gun.

According to the SIU, the first officer on scene ordered the man to drop the gun but the man didn’t, instead chasing after the officer. A second officer arrived and saw this happening. This officer also ordered the man to stop and drop his weapon and was chased. Two other officers arrived and also ordered the man to drop his gun.

One of these officers was carrying a rifle and the other a shotgun. When the man turned and ran toward them, they fired. About seven minutes had passed since the 911 call.

The SIU says the officers reasonably believed their lives were in danger when they fired their guns, and says the officers had no way at the time to make sure the pellet gun wasn’t a real firearm.