No grounds for charges in fatal police shooting: SIU
Shea was shot and killed by a city officer after a pursuit and crash
The province’s Special Investigations Unit has concluded that there are no grounds for charges in relation to a fatal police shooting in Peterborough last year.
Billy Shea was shot and killed by police after a pursuit led to a crash south of the city on July 23, 2019.
“The director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file is closed,” the SIU states.
City police had been alerted to watch for a stolen red Mustang, and spotted it on Highway 115 near Millbrook at about 8:30 p.m. Police pursued the Mus
tang, which had a man and woman in it, north into Peterborough, but broke off the chase before the Mustang crashed into another car while northbound on the Highway 115 off ramp at The Parkway.
The SIU report details what happened after police arrived at the crash scene.
“A pursuit was initiated, then terminated, just outside Peterborough,” states the SIU director’s report. “A short time later, police officers came across a vehicle collision involving the pursued vehicle in the area of Highway 115 and The Parkway exit.”
For about an hour, an officer spoke to Shea, trying to convince him to surrender. Officers also saw a woman in the car.
“While police initially were concerned that the passenger in the Mustang ... was a possible hostage, over the course of the interaction it became clear that she was willingly in the car and, in fact, continually instigated confrontation between (Shea) and the police,” Martino wrote.
Shea told police he had a triple-barrelled shotgun — one was later found at the scene — and said he was going to kill himself or force police to kill him. He repeatedly told police he would not go back to jail, saying “It ends here tonight.”
Both he and the woman in the vehicle told police they wanted to die. One officer responded “Nobody is going to die.” The pair replied that they would either be killed by police or they would kill the police officers.
At one point, the report states, the woman in the car dropped a handgun out the car window. The report describes this as apparently inadvertent.
“As police officers approached the area, the driver apparently raised a shotgun and pointed it at police officers,” Martino wrote. “The police officers contained the area and commenced negotiations with the occupants of the vehicle. During negotiations, (Shea) reportedly put the shotgun to his chin several times.”
Police prepared for gunfire, with an officer selected to take aim at Shea and fire if necessary. A C8 rifle was set up on the hood of a vehicle about six metres from the Mustang. Shea saw this and shouted at the officer to shoot him, the report states.
After about 45 minutes, Shea told police he had taken magic mushrooms. He put the shotgun barrel under his chin, and briefly pointed it at the woman before leaving the vehicle, shouting either “here I come” or “here we go” and walking toward police.
At this point, he took the shotgun away from his chin and approached three police officers. Another officer fired a C8 rifle twice at about 9:41 p.m., hitting Shea in the back as he approached the other officers.
“The subject officer indicated that he could not permit (Shea) to completely lower his firearm, because at least three police officers would have been in his line of fire,” Martino wrote in his decision. “Shortly thereafter, the passenger surrendered. (Shea) was transported to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m.”
Martino wrote that he had determined that the officer had no choice but to fire.
A woman, 64, in the other vehicle involved broke an arm in the crash. The OPP took over investigation of the collision after the shooting, the SIU states.
The SIU is an arms-length agency that investigates interactions with police that result in sexual assault, injury or death. This case involved six SIU investigators and four SIU forensic investigators.
Shea, 27 at the time, was a federal parolee wanted for an armed robbery in Hamilton when he encountered city police, according to Hamilton police and the OPP.
A Canada-wide warrant for his arrest had been issued May 9.
The woman in the vehicle with him was charged with possession of stolen property, theft over $5,000 and possession of an unauthorized weapon (gun).