Thunder Bay police officer cleared of wrongdoing in Highway 11/17 shooting

Ontario's police watchdog has cleared a Thunder Bay police officer of any wrongdoing in connection with a shooting incident on Highway 11/17 in Kakabeka Falls.

The incident occurred on Dec. 26, 2024, when officers were dispatched to the highway "following 911 calls about a man walking alongside the highway with a firearm," Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said in a news release issued Friday.

A 58-year-old man swore at the first police officer who approached him before pointing a shotgun at him. The officer then drove away, the SIU said.

After the highway was closed, another police officer approached the man in a police cruiser and "repeatedly directed the man to drop his weapon."

The man raised his shotgun in the officer's direction and pulled the trigger, but it failed to discharge. The man then shot at the police cruiser and struck its door, according to the SIU.

"From a distance, another officer fired his semi-automatic pistol a single time at the man, and the man was struck in the right chest. The officers approached the man on the ground, secured him in handcuffs, and rendered first aid pending the arrival of paramedics," said the SIU.

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

"On his assessment of the evidence, SIU director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man's injury," the SIU said.