Sault Ste. Marie Police Shoot and Kill Man (37) (May 11, 2024)

Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man on the night of May 11, 2024. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) reports that at approximately 10:30 PM, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officers were called to a Circle K store on Second Line West regarding an alleged disturbance. They encountered a 37-year-old man in the vicinity of the store and sought to transport him to another location for undisclosed reasons.

At some point an undisclosed “interaction” occurred, and one officer fired his weapon, striking the man. The victim was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The SIU has assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to examine the killing.

Manitoba RCMP Shoot and Kill Man (27) in Sandy Bay First Nation (April 20, 2024)

Amaranth RCMP shot and killed a 27-year-old man in Sandy Bay First Nation on the evening of April 20, 2024. It is reported that RCMP were responding to a call by Manitoba First Nation Police Service regarding a disturbance involving a weapon at a residence in Sandy Bay First Nation around 5 PM. Police claim the man had fled by the time officers arrived, but RCMP and Manitoba First Nation Police tracked him to an open, outdoor area. A Mountie shot and killed the man.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) will be investigating.

Eeyou Eenou Police Force Strike and Kill Man with Patrol Car (April 19, 2024)

Eeyou Eenou Police Force (EEPF, Cree Nation) struck and killed a pedestrian with a patrol car in Mistissini, in Northern Quebec, on April 19, 2024. Quebec’s Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) is investigating. They report that a police officer from the Eeyou Eenou Police Force was traveling in his patrol car, followed by two police officers from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) in their patrol vehicle. The three officers were reportedly responding to a call regarding a person traveling by foot on the highway. The pedestrian was then hit by the EEPF police officer’s patrol car. The victim suffered serious injuries and was transported to a clinic where he was later pronounced dead.

Five BEI investigators have been tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the death. The BEI is not an independent investigations unit and relies on other police forces for their investigations. In this case, the Service de police de la Ville du Québec (Quebec City police) will be involved in the investigation.

Calgary Police Shoot and Kill Patrick Robert Kimmel (45) (March 15, 2024)

Police in Calgary shot and killed a man, identified by neighbors as Patrick Robert Kimmel (45), on March 15, 2024, after what police say was “a 30-hour armed standoff.” It is reported that members of both the Calgary tactical unit and RCMP emergency response team fired their weapons. Witnesses reported “the sound of explosions and a volley of gunfire” after which Mr. Kimmel was dead. In audio from a video recorded by a neighbor and subsequently released to media, a tactical team member can be heard to say, “we’re going to have to amp things up a little bit.”

Police had been stationed outside a home in the 300 block of Penswood Way SE, in the Penbrooke Meadows neighborhood of southeast Calgary since 3:30 PM in the afternoon of March 14. Police say they were at the residence as part of an ongoing firearms investigation and people not involved in the investigation were able to leave the home before the man barricaded himself inside.

Police claim the man inside started shooting shortly after their arrival. Some nearby homes were evacuated, and a shelter-in-place order was called for the neighborhood. Some residents were not allowed to return to their homes for several hours and the Calgary Emergency Management Agency opened an information center at the Village Square Leisure Centre. Memorial Drive, a busy Calgary thoroughfare, was shut down between 52nd Street SE and 68th Street SE.

At least one police sniper with a scoped rifle entered a neighboring home. Another neighbor has reported that a CPS sniper “also set up a perch on his property.”

Neighbors who witnessed the police siege said they saw police flooding the basement of the residence through a window. They also said that police tried to smoke the victim out. Several windows in the residence were “blown out.” Neighbors reported that police set off several “flash bombs.”

Police claim the situation “escalated” at around 8:30 PM and members of the Calgary tactical unit and RCMP emergency response team fired their weapons killing the man. It has not been explained who or what “escalated” the situation, a key question given police suggestions about amping things up. No one in the community was hurt as a result of alleged gunfire from the man who was killed.

Police say there were intermittent negotiations with the man over the 30-hour period. It has not been reported what “escalated” the situation or why police decided to open fire and kill the man. Calgary Police Service (CPS) Chief Mark Neufeld suggested the man’s alleged “history of weapons offences” influence police actions during the incident.

Many questions remain of course. People are starting to ask what police meant by “amping things up” during the siege. There are also questions about what role police presumptions about the victim played in their response.

OPP Fatally Shoot Man in Temiskaming District (March 7, 2024)

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shot and killed one person and arrested another following a police pursuit north of Latchford in Temiskaming District on March 7, 2024. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating.

It is reported that Kirkland Lake OPP tried to stop a vehicle near Government Road West and Woods Street in Kirkland Lake at around 5 PM. Police claim the vehicle failed to stop and officers from the Kirkland Lake OPP and the Temiskaming OPP engaged in a police chase (“suspect apprehension pursuit”). The chase was apparently extensive as the distance from the intersection in Kirkland Lake to the area of Highway 11 and Portage Bay Road, where police focused their investigation, ranges from about 100 kilometers to 120 kilometers depending on route.

A shelter-in-place was issued in Latchford and surrounding area for several hours. Witnesses who were stuck on the highway took to social media to say they believed the incident involved a high-speed chase.

Few details have been released at this point. Police described one person they were pursuing as “Middle Eastern, about 30 years old, and dressed in black.” It has not been confirmed publicly that this describes the victim.

Halton Police Shoot and Kill Man in Oakville (March 2, 2024)

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit SIU) is investigating the fatal shooting of a man by two Halton Regional Police Service officers early in the morning of March 2, 2024, at an Oakville residence.

According to the SIU, at around 1:40 AM, officers went to a residence on Stanbury Road after receiving a 911 call about a stabbing. After arriving police located a man inside the residence and shot him. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man was located with serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

The SIU has assigned six investigators and three forensic investigators to examine case. Two subject officials and four witness officials have been designated at this time.

Sûreté du Québec Hit and Kill Man with Patrol Car (Feb. 24, 2024)

Quebec’s police oversight agency, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), is investigating after a man was struck and killed by Sûreté du Québec (SQ) in a patrol car on February 24, 2024.

According to the BEI, the person was struck by an SQ patrol car near Schefferville, Quebec at around 1:30 AM. The victim suffered serious injuries and was transported to the CLSC where he was pronounced dead.

The BEI has assigned five investigators to the case. They not an independent agency and rely on other police forces in their investigations.

Waterloo Regional Police Shoot and Kill Nicholas Nembhard, 31-Year-Old Black Man in Mental Health Crisis (Feb. 19, 2024)

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating the police killing of Nicholas Nembhard, a 31-year-old Black man in Kitchener on February 19, 2024. Mr. Nembhard has been identified publicly by his brother Andre Nembhard, who was present at the time.

The SIU report that shortly before 9 PM, Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) officers responded to a disturbance call at a residence at Brybeck Crescent and Karn Street in Kitchener. Police claim that upon arrival at the scene they encountered a man holding an edged weapon. There was an undisclosed “interaction,” and one officer fired his weapon striking the man. He was transported to hospital where he died of his injuries. A witness reports hearing police fire two shots.

Andre Nembhard told local news that his brother had schizophrenia and was off his medication. He related that, “We tried to seek some help from the police so we could bring him to the hospital to get him some help, get him on his medication again.” He said that police told him officers would come to the family’s home to speak with them, but he was sitting down waiting for police to arrive when he heard gunshots outside. In his words, “When I came out here – that’s my brother, under the police car suffering from a gunshot wound.” He also reports that when family members tried to get closer to their loved one, police officers pushed them back: “They were pointing the gun at us, telling us to ‘move, move, get away from the scene.”

Andre Nembhard says his brother caused no one any harm but was frightened. As he told reporters, “He did nobody no harm yesterday. He was just out of his mind. I was trying to seek some help and this the help that we get. They came here, they killed him – innocent guy, for nothing. Even when he’s sick, he’s not trying to kill nobody. He’s just scared.”

This is not the first time WRPS officers have killed someone in mental distress in this neighborhood. In April 2015, they shot and killed Beau Baker (20) outside his Brybeck Crescent apartment. We reported previously on that killing and its aftermath. WRPS officers shot Beau Baker seven times.

The SIU has assigned three investigators and three forensic investigators to examine the killing. Five witness officers have been designated.

Police are violence. They are not care. Police should not be deployed against people in crisis. Canadian police disproportionately kill Black and Indigenous people and people in crisis. Particularly so where mental health crises and racialization and colonial histories intersect. Anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism are endemic to policing, they are foundational to its structure.

Winnipeg Police Shoot and Kill Bradley Singer (59) During Mental Health Arrest (Feb. 13, 2024)

Winnipeg Police Service officers shot and killed a 59-year-old man, identified publicly by family as Bradley Singer, during a mental health arrest on February 13, 2024. Health Sciences Centre doctors had previously diagnosed Mr. Singer with schizophrenia. It is reported that police received an order on February 8 under the province’s Mental Health Act to take the man to the hospital for a “non-voluntary physician examination.” Police say they made several attempts to apprehend the man in the following days but were not able to.

On the morning of February13, officers went to his home in Winnipeg’s North End. They claim that the man answered the door and was “exhibiting agitated behaviour” while holding a crowbar. They also claim he sprayed them with a fire extinguisher before going inside his home and locking himself in.

Police then called the tactical support team and broke into the home using a battering ram on the department’s armored vehicle. Police claim the man, since identified as Mr. Singer, had barricaded himself inside a bedroom on the second floor. The man eventually left the bedroom and was shot by police. Police claim he had an edged weapon.

The victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died there.

It has been reported that tactical officers apprehended Mr. Singer only a month ago on another Mental Health Act order related to not taking his medications. In that case, police also forced their way into that house using the police armored vehicle to get inside and take Mr. Singer into custody. 

None of the police claims regarding the killing of Mr. Singer have been confirmed publicly.

Police are not an appropriate response to mental health crises. Policing is violence, not care.

Winnipeg police have killed four people since December 29, 2023.

Winnipeg Police Shoot and Kill Afolabi Stephen Opaso (Zigi), 19-Year-Old Black Student (Dec. 31, 2023)

Winnipeg police shot and killed Afolabi Stephen Opaso (known as Zigi), a 19-year-old Black youth on December 31, 2023. A family lawyer has confirmed publicly that Afolabi Stephen Opaso was an international student originally from Nigeria who studied at the University of Manitoba. Mr. Opaso’s family says he was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the police action. They have questioned why police moved quickly to use lethal force against him.

It is reported that at approximately 2:22 PM the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) went to an apartment unit in the 100 block of University Crescent, between Dysart Road and Dafoe Road West a 911 call regarding a man “acting erratically.” The caller allegedly said the man may be armed and there were other people in the unit.

Police claim that upon arrival they were confronted by an armed man. During this encounter, an officer fired their weapon striking the man. The youth was transported to hospital in critical condition and died there.

This is the second person shot and killed by Winnipeg police in two days. A 52-year-old man was killed on December 29.