Inquest probes disparity in woman’s statements
Testimony by key witness appears contradictory to statement she gave to SIU
Inconsistencies in a key witness account of the Andrew Loku police shooting were the focus Friday at a coroner’s inquest into his death, where surveillance video of the highprofile encounter was released for the first time, nearly two years after Loku was killed.
Toronto Consts. Andrew Doyle and Haim Queroub were named as the officers involved in the shooting. When police lawyer Gary Clewley asked witness Robin Hicks, who was Loku’s neighbour, if she could identify them as the officers she saw arrive on scene that night, she could not.
In her testimony, which was twice paused for recess after Hicks became emotional, Hicks said she saw a male and female officer arrive and that the male officer was the one who fired his gun. But the inquest heard Friday that it was two male officers who responded to the call.
Hicks could not explain why she believed one of the officers was a woman, or how her version of events on the stand differed from the account she provided to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario’s police watchdog, about two hours after the shooting.
In a recorded interview with SIU investigators, Hicks said she didn’t think the shooting “was the officers’ fault,” saying: “I want to set that straight before people start saying things.”
Asked by an SIU investigator what the officers’ options were, Hicks said: “shoot or probably get a hammer in the head, by the looks of it.”
But Hicks said she was in shock at the time of the interview with the SIU and maintains she was never afraid of Loku, but afraid for him.
“His eyes were glossy and he was just really upset and I’d never seen him like that,” she testified Friday.
Loku, 45, was shot dead by police on July 5, 2015, inside an apartment building at 502 Gilbert Ave. Officers had been summoned to the building by a 911 call from neighbours in the apartment directly above Loku’s, saying he had come upstairs carrying ahammer and was threatening to kill someone. Within five minutes of the 911 call, Loku was shot. The SIU did not charge the officer who fired at Loku, ruling the officer killed Loku on the belief he was about to attack him with a hammer.
The inquest continues Monday.