Updated April 24, 2025 @ 1:57pm
A 30-year-old man was shot dead by police outside Toronto's Pearson Airport on Thursday morning, officials said, describing it as an isolated incident that did not target the airport itself.
Peel police officers at the airport were called just before 7 a.m. to the drop-off area outside Terminal 1 departures level for reports of a man "in distress," Ontario's police watchdog said.
"Early information indicates that this individual produced a firearm and the officers responded with the shots fired," said Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit.
This was not an attack on the airport and there was no threat to public safety, Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah told reporters at the airport on Thursday.
He said a group of two or three people were in a dispute outside the terminal, one of whom called 911. Police responded and tried to de-escalate but Duraiappah said the man "abruptly" pulled a firearm.
"There was no critical infrastructure threat," he said.
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Two officers shot the man, the SIU spokesperson said, despite earlier reports that all three officers had fired their guns. The 30-year-old died at the scene.
Denette said she did not have information about what was reported in the initial 911 call. She was told the man was in distress, acting "possibly a little erratic" and "maybe agitated," she said.
Police and the man exchanged words, possibly for several minutes, before he allegedly pulled the gun and shots were fired, Denette said.
The man was with family members, Denette said. She couldn't say whether there was a dispute among people or possibly a mental health crisis, but noted that "the gentleman was kind of in a mental distress."
SIU investigators were starting to review police body cam footage, surveillance video and other evidence to help better piece together what happened, Denette said.
Police tape and evidence markers surrounded a dark Jeep Cherokee SUV with its trunk open on the departures level Thursday morning. A yellow sheet appeared to cover a body on the sidewalk.
Pearson Airport said flights continued to operate normally despite the ongoing investigation.
Inside the airport, travellers appeared largely unconcerned as they were rerouted in and out of the airport through the arrivals level. Some travellers said they had to wait in traffic but their flights were not delayed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.
