Slain Manitoulin Island officer cleared in November shootout

Sudbury — Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has released details of last fall's fatal shootout on Manitoulin Island that left two men dead and determined there was no criminal wrongdoing by the slain provincial police officer.

During an arrest attempt, 52-year-old Const. Marc Hovingh and 60-year-old civilian Gary Brohman were both killed in an exchange of gunfire on Nov. 19 in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island.

The SIU investigates cases involving police and serious injury, sexual assault and death and was called in to review the incident.

Joseph Martino, the director of the province's police watchdog agency, released his findings Friday afternoon and said, "there are no reasonable grounds to believe that Const. Hovingh committed a criminal offence in connection with Mr. Brohman's death."

Ontario Provincial Police were called to a property on Nov. 18 on Hindman Trail after the owner reported Brohman was trespassing on the man's land. When Hovingh, a man with 28 years of police experience, arrived that afternoon, Brohman was gone.

The SIU report said Brohman hired someone to bulldoze a trail into the bush on the owner's property, brought in a trailer and was living in it at the time.

When Hovingh and another officer returned the next morning and spoke to Brohman, the property owner and his son showed up. The property owner agreed to give Brohman until the next day to leave the premises after the squatter said he had nowhere to go. However, as they were leaving, the SIU report said the officers and property owner discovered a clearing near Brohman's trailer being used to grow a large amount of cannabis. This resulted in the property owner changing his mind and wanting Brohman to leave immediately.

When the officers returned to Brohman's trailer, he reportedly refused to cooperate, so the officers forced their way into the trailer.

After an unsuccessful attempt by Hovingh's partner to coax Brohman out, Hovingh stepped inside the trailer and was then shot by Brohman three times with a shotgun. The officer returned fire with seven shots, the SIU report said. Hovingh's colleague did not fire their gun during the exchange.

"Shots fired, shots fired. I need assistance now," Hovingh's partner said at 11:01 a.m. Nov. 19. "We went in to help this guy out and he pulled a gun from around the corner. Hovingh and the accused were both in the, were all in the trailer."

When paramedics arrived, they found Brohman inside the trailer with serious gunshot wounds. He and Hovingh were transported to Mindemoya Hospital. Both men succumbed to their injuries.

No one else was injured in the tragic incident.

In Martino's report, he said, "Const. Hovingh’s gunfire was also a reasonable response in defence of the lives and safety of his partner, and the civilian witnesses - all of whom were in the vicinity of the trailer when the shots rang out. Faced with an armed individual shooting at him, Const. Hovingh could only have concluded that all of their lives were in imminent peril if Mr. Brohman was left unchecked and allowed to exit the trailer."

Hovingh's actions likely saved the lives of others, the SIU director said.

When word got out in the community about what had happened, police received a tip about potential danger at the scene.

"A civilian had contacted the OPP on Nov. 19 to express his concern the property might be booby-trapped with pipe bombs and propane tank bombs. As a result, there was a significant delay in SIU and GSPS forensic investigators accessing the scene," Martino said in his report.

Forensic investigators from Greater Sudbury Police Service and the SIU along with a bomb technician examined the scene on Nov. 21.

"Five spent 9mm handgun cartridge cases, believed to have come from Const. Hovingh’s pistol, and three spent 12-gauge shotgun husks, from 00 buck shotshells, were located inside the trailer. There was damage to the walls of the trailer, consistent with a shotgun being fired inside the trailer. The floor inside the trailer, in the area of the front door (door closest to trailer tongue), was covered in blood," the report said.

Investigators found "numerous improvised explosives and chemicals that could be used to fabricate explosive and incendiary materials," as well as many guns and a spent 9 mm bullet case.

"In my view, the force used by Const. Hovingh, namely, the repeated discharge of his firearm at Mr. Brohman, fell squarely within the justification of section 34 (of the Criminal Code)," Martino said.

Hovingh's death shocked not only the small island and surrounding communities, but the whole province.

Dignitaries along with Ontario Premier Doug Ford attended his funeral that was streamed live on CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca. He leaves behind a wife and four children.