One-year-old killed during Kawartha Lakes-area shootout was struck by police-fired bullet, says SIU
No charges laid in ongoing investigation
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has ruled a one-year-old boy and his father both died late last year as a result of police gunfire.
On November 26, 2020, the OPP responded to reports of an armed kidnapping in the Kawartha Lakes area. During the pursuit of a suspect vehicle, a collision occurred between a pickup truck and an OPP cruiser. An officer on foot was struck in the crash.
Shortly after the collision, three more officers arrived on scene and there was an exchange of gunfire. A one-year-old boy was struck and killed by a bullet the SIU now says was fired by a police officer’s gun.
“Upon receipt and review of additional forensic evidence in this case, including the results of the post-mortem examination performed on a child, and reports prepared by the Centre of Forensic Sciences of analyses conducted with respect to bloodstains in the pickup truck, the trajectory of shots that struck the truck, and firearms, cartridge cases, and projectiles, the SIU can today confirm that the child’s death on November 26, 2020, in Kawartha Lakes was the result of being shot by police,” reads a statement from the SIU.
The man, later determined to be the boy’s 33-year-old father, was also struck by a police-fired bullet and was rushed to hospital. He died of his injuries six days later.
The SIU investigation continues. No charges have yet been laid.
