Ajax vigil Family, friends remember man who was shot dead by police,
Supporters at Ajax vigil demand officers be charged in death of Michael MacIsaac
Ali Van Kirk is still waiting for her big-hearted Uncle Mike to open the door, yell her name and scoop her up in a hug.
Standing on the spot on an Ajax street where he was shot and killed by police a month ago, Van Kirk weeps as she remembers the man who was at every concert or game, cheering the loudest.
“He was our devoted Uncle Mike who never missed an important game, concert or event that any of us ever took part in,” said Van Kirk,18, at a candlelight vigil Saturday evening.
“Spending time with us was never something he needed to do. It was something he enjoyed doing, and it meant the world to all of us.”
More than 100 family, friends and supporters, many wearing memorial T-shirts that read “Justice for Michael,” walked the same path MacIsaac, 47, took the morning of Dec. 2.
Police were dispatched to a house on Unsworth Cres. after they re- ceived several calls about a man acting strangely. Witnesses told the Star he was jogging erratically around the neighbourhood on that cold morning, naked. Durham Regional Police officers confronted MacIsaac in the middle of Dring St., just steps from his house. Witnesses reported hearing two or three gunshots ring out around 10 a.m. MacIsaac died of his injuries the following day. “Something went terribly wrong that morning. After several seizures and a high fever, he was not himself,” Marianne MacIsaac, Michael’s wife of 12 years, said at the vigil. “Who knew that a call to 911 would have resulted in his tragic death?” Michael’s family is calling for criminal charges to be laid against the officer who fired the shots that killed him, de-escalation training for all Ontario police, policies to ensure that training is followed, and mental health crisis intervention teams for every police force in the province. “As a community, we cannot live in fear that a call for help to those that are meant to serve and protect will result in tragedy for our families,” said Marianne. “I hope Michael is watching and hopefully he’ll see that he didn’t die in vain.” The speakers also included Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan and Karyn Greenwood-Graham, whose son Trevor Graham was shot and killed by Waterloo police in 2007. “This is a preventable death,” said Greenwood-Graham. “This should not be happening. It’s wrong. Let’s do something about it.” Michael’s mother, Yvonne MacIsaac, believes that police could have calmed her son down without violence. “I wish I would have been there . . . to say, ‘Can’t you see that my son is in distress? Please don’t hurt him any more,’ ” said Yvonne. Michael suffered a brain injury in a schoolyard bullying incident when he was a child. He struggled with epilepsy, suffering seizures that would leave him frustrated and exhausted for days. The province’s Special Investigations Unit, which investigates whenever police are involved in incidents that lead to serious injury or death, or when officers are accused of sexual assault, is still investigating the shooting.