SIU investigating after 15-year-old shot
Officers at scene told witness that boy pointed a gun at them
Janet Wade-Hunt says she was sitting in her car outside a Pizza Pizza in Mississauga, using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi while listening to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in the early morning hours, when a stranger opened the passenger door.
Terrified, Wade-Hunt scared the teen off, falsely telling him she had a boyfriend inside the restaurant, and then called 911.
Moments later, Peel police shot the 15year-old, who is now in hospital in serious but stable condition.
“I just wanted them to arrest him,” she told reporters at the scene about eight hours later. “I just wish he wasn’t shot.”
The Special Investigations Unit, the province’s police watchdog, was called in following the shooting at the Credit Valley Town Plaza, near Britannia and Creditview Rds. at 1:50 a.m. Thursday.
Wade-Hunt said the boy had a gun, and that officers at the scene told her he’d pointed it at them. SIU spokesperson Jason Gennaro said he couldn’t confirm if the 15-year-old was armed.
Gennaro said a Peel Region Police officer shot the boy while responding to a call for a robbery at a gas station in the plaza.
Peel police were told three males were involved in the robbery, but two fled in a grey vehicle, Gennaro added.
The third male attempted to rob another business, Gennaro said, then unsuccessfully tried to get into three occupied vehicles in the plaza.
“Peel police officers arrived at the scene, there was an interaction with the man and one Peel police officer discharged a firearm,” Gennaro said. “At least one shot was fired.” He said the “interaction” took place near a bank in the plaza.
After the boy left Wade-Hunt’s car, she said she pulled out and drove a short distance away, though she wasn’t wearing a seat belt or her glasses. She also said she saw the teen tap on the window of another vehicle using a gun.
Wade-Hunt said she wasn’t sure if the boy fired a weapon, but she heard six or seven gunshots and later saw the teen on the ground.
“I saw his leg move,” she said. “I kept asking if he’s OK.”
Wade-Hunt said she then called 911 again for an ambulance.
Paramedics said the boy was rushed to the Hospital for Sick Children with a gunshot wound to his upper torso.
Police are searching for the two males who left the scene, but did not have any information to identify them, Gennaro said.
“We are currently appealing for any witnesses who may have been in the area at the time who may have captured the incident on video or who have seen anything to contact our lead investigator,” he said.
A large section of the plaza was cordoned off with yellow police tape Thursday morning, along with the entire block of Creditview Rd. What appeared to be a bullet casing could also be seen on the ground next to a police cruiser on Creditview Rd.
Investigators were spotted dropping yellow evidence markers in front of the BMO bank at the west end of the plaza. A single black and red running shoe with a white sole could also be seen at the bank entrance.
Many businesses in the plaza were closed while the SIU completed the investigation.
No charges have been laid in relation to the robbery, Peel police said.
The reopened section of the parking lot was mostly filled with customers of the other stores in the plaza, many of whom paused to snap photos of the police cruisers and crime scene tape.
Six SIU investigators and two forensic investigators have been assigned to the case.
The SIU investigates cases involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. With files from Alina Bykova and Bryann Aguilar