‘Just pure luck’ that cop survived shooting

Two men walk into a bar. And then — chaos. A shootout in the parking lot between police and an armed suspect just after midnight on Thursday.

The 36-year-old suspect was killed, struck multiple times by three officers who returned fire. One officer miraculously survived a gunshot to the chest, an inch below his heart, the bullet piercing through his cellphone, tucked into the front pocket of his Kevlar vest, then blunted by the vest’s ballistic plate.

A couple of inches higher and there would have been no protection. The vest did its job. Less than five feet away from the shooter, was the officer, identified as Det.-Const. Arjuna Raveendran of 41 Division — four years with Toronto police — according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Deeply bruised ribs, sore and in shock, but mercifully alive, already released from Sunnybrook hospital, at home now with his wife and child.

The same hospital where emergency room staff fought hard to save the suspect’s life but there was little they could do for him, so grievous were his wounds. The Scarborough resident was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m.

Shell casings littered the scene, at first marked by plastic beer cups from the bar, later replaced by yellow evidence markers after forensic officers arrived. Also recovered was a gun and a holster, which did not belong to any of the officers involved — three of them designated subject officers, three as witness officers.

A late-model white Mercedes, in which the suspect had been seated when the shootout began, was riddled with bullet holes. Two police cruisers that had responded to a call-out about a fight and a man with a gun at the Muckish Irish Pub on Warden Ave. in Scarborough remained in situ Thursday afternoon where the officers had jumped out, one vehicle in the lot and one on adjacent Hymus Rd.

The pub is popular with offduty officers and firefighters from a fire hall behind the small strip plaza.

The mayhem began to unfold, as recounted by pub staff, when a bar customer realized that one of the men who entered the premises was carrying a firearm. That person made the 911 call. That person, a regular patron — always orders precisely one pint of Guinness and precisely one basket of chicken wings — happened to be an off-duty cop.

Sources have identified the officer as Const. Kevin Marshall, from downtown’s 51 Division. Marshall noticed one of the men had a gun tucked in his waistband. He watched as the man left the bar and ordered employees to lock the doors to prevent the man from possibly re-entering. Simultaneously, he placed the 911 call, as described by a bartender.

Cops were on the scene within minutes.

It is unclear what triggered the shootout but sources say the suspect fired first. “I can’t get into that information,” said Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Monica Hudon, during a news conference at the scene late Thursday morning. “That will be part of the investigation.” But the suspect was still in the car when shooting erupted.

Bar employees told the Star that the shooter and the man he was with were familiar to them as associates of an individual who has purportedly been in negotiations to take over the lease on the premises. Muckish — named for a mountain in Donegal, Ireland and recently celebrating its 10th anniversary — is operated by publican John McFadden. McFadden spent several hours Thursday being interviewed by members of the Special Investigations Unit, which probes all incidents involving police when a civilian is either killed, seriously injured or sexually assaulted.

Half a dozen SIU investigators have been assigned to the case, along with three forensic investigators.

Hudon could not, or would not, say how many times the victim had been struck. The man’s identity was being withheld until next of kin can be informed and consent obtained to release his name.

All three subject officers discharged their weapons.

Despite accounts provided to the Star, it is not absolutely confirmed that Raveendran was shot by the suspect during the frantic fusillade, with four guns firing. “In terms of what firearm (struck the officer), that would be determined by forensic analysis,” said Hudon.

Neither has it yet been established whether the shooter had threatened anybody in the bar before he left. “We are trying to determine what transpired in the pub,” said Hudon.

“That information will come out later as the investigation proceeds.”

The Star has obtained documents showing that the Mercedes had been leased from the Kharisma Saree Centre — a Scarborough women’s clothing store specializing in saris, which was shut up tight Thursday — by Platinum Car Rental, and then rented out. At Platinum, the day manager confirmed the plate number as one of their rentals but would not provide any details about who had leased it. Until informed by the Star, he was unaware that one of the company’s cars had been shot full of holes by police.

Police Chief Mark Saunders was at the scene early Thursday morning.

“Having the proper equipment from all aspects of policing is something that I feel is so much more critical in today’s environment,” he told reporters.

Kevlar vests are bullet-resistant, not 100-per-cent bullet proof, against projectiles travelling at more than 1,000 feet per second, at close range.

“When I got on the job … wearing a vest was optional and I remember police would be complaining because they’re cumbersome and it’s summer and it’s hot. And I’ve got to tell you, I think those days are gone now when we talk about options.”

The wild shooting episode is only the latest in a slew of gunfire incidents, with 175 shootings in Toronto as of June 3, with 229 victims — 62 in May alone — and 38 homicides since the start of 2018.

Saunders commented on the increased gun violence, especially over the past few weeks. “I don’t care what people say about whether or not we like or don’t like the police, nobody wants to get shot. We’re in communities where we have young kids that are playing, summer is coming up and the fact that people will pull a gun out and use a firearm is of great concern.”

The SIU has interviewed numerous witnesses, civilians and police in the Muckish event but are anxious to obtain any video evidence that may have been captured by cellphones. Footage can be uploaded directly onto the SIU website.

One man dead but it could have been so much worse.

“Just pure luck,” said Mike McCormack, head of the Toronto Police Association, addressing how close the city came to losing a police officer. “If the trajectory of the bullet had been just a bit higher, he would have been hit in the head. What I can tell you about the officer is that he’s a good copper.”