Man stabbed two people at grocery store before incident in Wellington West
Slain suspect advanced on officer before fatal shooting
After stabbing a man in the rib cage and cutting a woman in the abdomen, a knife-wielding suspect fled a Wellington West grocery store as police officers scoured the area looking for him.
Within minutes, Pierre Charron would be dead.
Ottawa police say they responded to a 911 call at the Metro grocery store at 345 Carleton Ave. around 6:45 p.m. Sunday. Police were told a man with a knife had stabbed multiple people inside the store.
Police believe that dispute somehow began over cereal and escalated when Charron, 25, attacked the pair before fleeing on foot.
Patrol officers would be told to be on the lookout for a white man, with long black hair and a goatee, wearing a winter coat and tuque and heading east on Wellington Street West.
Officers found Charron on Western Avenue, about 200 metres from the grocery store, in the space between two homes, one of them under construction.
Sources say Charron, with the knife still in his hand, advanced toward an officer. It was at that point that Const. Greg Bell fired his gun multiple times, hitting and killing the suspect.
Eric Slankis, who lives on Western Avenue, a few houses south from the corner of Spencer Street, said he heard four or five gunshots in quick succession around 7 p.m.
“I heard something that sounded like, ‘Hold your fire,’ or something like that,” Slankis said.
He moved to the front door, and found that the street was swarming with nearly a dozen police cruisers.
Slankis then saw police attempt to revive a man who appeared lifeless.
Charron was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Paramedics treated both stabbing victims, who are expected to survive their injuries. The man, in his 40s, had “significant” stab wounds and was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition. The woman, in her 50s, was bleeding profusely from the cut to her abdomen, but paramedics said the injury was minor and she was released at the scene.
The Special Investigations Unit, the province’s civilian police watchdog, continues to investigate the fatal shooting and will determine if Bell’s actions were criminal or a justified use of force given his perception of the threat he faced. The SIU has assigned seven investigators to the probe. Bell has been designated the only subject officer. Ottawa police central division detectives, meanwhile, are investigating what led to the attacks inside the grocery store before police arrived on scene.
Chief Charles Bordeleau told Monday’s police services board meeting that the officers involved are receiving extra support “to make sure they are OK.”
“When a man is shot dead in the community, it is hard for everybody,” Bordeleau said. “It is hard for the family. It is hard for the officers and their colleagues. It is hard for the community. So now I think we need to let the SIU conduct their independent investigation and determine the facts of the case.”
The board also heard Monday that the purchase of 100 Tasers in 2015 resulted in a significant use of conducted energy weapons and a corresponding drop — by 39 per cent — in the discharge of firearms. Ottawa police supervisors, the tactical squad and some patrol constables have Tasers, but the force aims to equip every frontline officer with one.
The police board also approved a schedule of public consultations that the force will hold before it expands officer access to Tasers, an item that was on the meeting ’s agenda before Sunday ’s fatal shooting. Expanded Taser use would come with increased de-escalation training.
Bell, a patrol officer, is described by his peers as an “experienced” and “respected” officer on D platoon. He was one of several officers who starred in On Patrol with the Ottawa Police, a Rogers channel television show that took viewers on ride-alongs with officers, detailing how they respond to both routine and difficult calls for service. In episodes in which he appeared, Bell was on scene at a collision between a car and an OC Transpo bus and dealing with two intoxicated men. In 2013, he received a Senior Officer Commendation from the force.
The SIU did not identify either Bell nor Charron. The watchdog ’s policy is to name civilians who are killed by police only when their families consent. Charron’s family did not consent to his identity being released by the agency.
His death is the city’s eighth homicide of 2018.
When a man is shot dead in the community, it is hard for everybody. It is hard for the family. It is hard for the officers and their colleagues.