Danforth shooting: SIU says ‘no basis’ to lay charges against Toronto police in gunman’s death

Danforth gunman Faisal Hussain exchanged fire with Toronto police before shooting himself in his right temple, a long awaited report from Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit confirms.

The details of the shooting were contained in an SIU report released Wednesday that concludes police officers acted appropriately in their response to the July 22 mass shooting.

SIU director Tony Loparco said that Hussain “decided to kill himself rather than surrender to police and find [the officers] use of force was entirely appropriate under the circumstances.”

“Hussain was actively shooting at the officers, creating an immediate and significant threat,” Loparco said. “It was reasonably necessary for the police officers to discharge their firearms in an ultimately failed attempt to neutralize the threat.”

The report identified the handgun used by Hussain as a black coloured .40-calibre Smith and Wesson. Two fully loaded handgun magazines were located near his body, according to the report.

The gun used in Toronto’s Danforth mass shooting on July 22, 2018 shown in a photo from the SIU.

Global News has previously reported that the handgun found at the scene, a .40-calibre Smith and Wesson, was stolen during a break-and-enter at a gun store in Saskatchewan in 2016.

The SIU’s report also offered new details of the night of shooting when a person called 911 at 10 p.m. to report that “someone had been shot on the Danforth” at Pappas Grill.

“The 911 communications centre was immediately flooded with other callers reporting a shooting on Danforth Ave. and that people were running or injured,” the report said. “One caller indicated that the shooter, Mr. Hussain, had stood on top of a woman and shot her multiple times in the back.”

Two officers in a police cruiser encountered Hussain on the west side of Bowden St. and began to approach him when Hussain fired at them multiple times. “Fearing for their lives” the two officers fired back, the report said.

“[Witness officer #2] moved to take cover behind the police vehicle and discharged his firearm, hitting the police cruiser’s rear passenger window, causing the glass to shatter and a projectile to become lodged in the window’s frame,” the report said.

Loparco concluded that there was “no basis” to charge officers following the SIU’s investigation, which focused on the actions of police immediately after the shooting that killed 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis and injured 13 others.

“It is clear that both officers feared for their lives and for the lives of others, and it is similarly clear that this fear was objectively reasonable,” he said. “Mr. Hussain took his own life and that no TPS officer involved in the incident committed a criminal offence. Indeed, in this case there is no evidence that the responding officers’ actions were anything but commendable in the face of truly perilous circumstances.”

The SIU is the provincial agency responsible for investigating incidents involving police in which someone is killed, injured or accused of sexual assault. The agency’s investigation consisted of interviews with 15 civilian witnesses and seven witness officer, as well as a surveillance video and in-car camera footage which captured the incident.

Toronto police have been conducting a separate investigation into the tragedy examining whether anyone aside from Hussain was involved, a possible motive, how he obtained the gun, and whether anyone else had a role in providing the weapon and bullets.

Global News reached out to police for comment following the release of the SIU report but have not yet received a response.

On Tuesday, newly unsealed search warrants showed that officers discovered a cache of ammunition — including fully loaded AK-47 magazines — as well as conspiracy theory documentaries in Hussain’s bedroom.

*More to come.

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