Ontario's police watchdog has cleared Greater Sudbury Police in the April 2018 shooting of a suspect at the downtown transit terminal.
Tony Loparco, director of the Special Investigations Unit, released his report Monday detailing the SIU's investigation of the incident and their conclusion the shooting was justified.
Jeremy Terry was in the transit terminal at the time of the shooting and captured the incident on video. You can watch it below.
Police were called to the transit terminal April 1 at 6:30 p.m., after reports that a man carrying two large knives was trying to break into the security office. Four officers arrived, carrying a C-8 rifle, service revolvers and Tasers.
“They saw (the suspect) in the south portion of the terminal pacing in and around the passenger area grasping two knives, one in each hand,” the SIU report said.
“The police officers repeatedly ordered (the suspect) to drop the knives, but he ignored those commands. The distance between the police officers and (the suspect), at that point, was approximately 30 feet.”
The four officers aimed their weapons at the suspect, including the Taser, with the red laser beam aimed at his chest.
The suspect “then suddenly raised both knives above his head, grasping them by the hilts while pointing the blades in the direction of the police officers, began to scream, and then rushed directly towards the four police officers,” the report said.
The officers fired the Tasers, hitting him in the chest and abdomen, “but they appeared to have no effect as he continued to rush at the police officers with his knives pointed at them.”
At that point, the officer fired the C-8 rifle three times, with one bullet hitting the suspect. Another ricocheted and struck a security guard in the office in the left shin.
The suspect required surgery to remove the bullet from his left flank, while the security guard was treated at hospital and released the same day.
The sequence of events were confirmed both by cellphone video taken during the incident, which had audio but wasn't always pointed at the suspect or police, and transit terminal video, which caught the entire incident, but had no audio.
The suspect later told the SIU he rushed at police in hopes they would kill him. Video footage from the transit terminal showed him holding a knife to his own neck before the incident took place.
After he was shot and disarmed by police, the suspect “was heard to repeatedly mumble, 'White power,'” the report said.
The suspect, Alex Stavropoulos, was found guilty in August 2018. His lawyer said he was suffering from marijuana psychosis at the time of the shooting.
In his ruling, Loparco said police on the scene ordered the suspect to drop the knives “15-20 times” and only shot him when he ran at them with holding the knives. Police can shoot a suspect when civilian or police lives are in imminent danger.
“It is clear that this was a fast-moving and fluid situation, with (the suspect) suddenly charging at the police officers with weapons raised,” he wrote. “The officers first resorted to the use of the (Tasers), before then jumping back and retreating to save themselves.
“On this evidence, I am unable to find that (the police officer) had any other viable option at that time to save the lives of his colleagues, other than the resort to lethal force. I note, however, that as soon as (the suspect) was hit and went to the floor, no further shots were fired … I find, therefore, on this record, that the lethal force resorted to by (police), which led to the serious injury ... was justified.”
