Probe clears officers, confirms Danforth gunman shot himself
SIU’s investigation into shooter’s death is most detailed official report of night so far
In the perilous moments after a gunman shot up Danforth Ave. then fired at them, two Toronto officers shot back at Faisal Hussain because they “feared for their lives and for the lives of others,” Ontario’s police watchdog concludes in a detailed report released Wednesday, clearing the officers of any criminal wrongdoing.
The long-anticipated report from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report confirms Hussain died of a selfinflicted gunshot wound. The 29-yearold gunman, clad head to toe in black, shot himself in the right temple in front of the Danforth Church minutes after unleashing a spray of bullets down the patio-lined Danforth Ave., killing two and injuring 13 others.
Next to his body, police found a Smith and Wesson .40-calibre handgun and two fully loaded handgun magazines, according to the report by the watch- dog, which probes all police-involved deaths and serious injuries. Three more loaded magazines were found inside a satchel Hussain was carrying.
The officer who found Hussain said he still had his ring and pinky finger around the grip of the gun, according to the report. The SIU’s decision to clear the officers has long been expected, particularly after police documents released by the courts last year confirmed Hussain shot himself and was not killed by police during a standoff near Danforth and Bowden St.
“He’s relieved that it’s done,” Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack said shortly after reaching one of the officers Wednesday. McCormack described both officers as experienced and humble, and said both went back to work following the shooting.
Noting the ammunition Hussain still had when he died, McCormack said the carnage caused by Hussain “could have been worse, were it not for our officers.”
The SIU report presents the most detailed official account to date of the fatal July 22 shooting, a narrative that reveals how quickly the incident unfolded. Calls reporting a shooting on the Danforth began flooding in at 10 p.m.; approximately six minutes later, Hussain was spotted by the two officers and soon after began exchanging gunfire with them in an alleyway near Bowden Ave. By 10:14 p.m., an internal police communications log reported: “Susp (ect) is down — self-inflicted,” the SIU report states.
“After a thorough investigation and for the following reasons, I am satisfied that Mr. Hussain took his own life and that no TPS officer involved in the incident committed a criminal offence,” SIU director Tony Loparco wrote in the report.
“Indeed, in this case there is no evidence that the responding officers’ actions were anything but commendable in the face of truly perilous circumstances.”
The SIU’s report comes one day after newly released court documents show investigators found a cache of ammunition in Hussain’s apartment, including two loaded magazines for an AK-47 assault rifle, though no guns were recovered inside the home. As police watchdog, the SIU was only examining the circumstances of Hussain’s death. Toronto police are still conducting what Chief Mark Saunders called a “largescale investigation” and will ultimately release a full investigative report.
In a statement Wednesday, Saunders said the information about ammunition that was released through the courts Tuesday “only represents the very early stages of our investigative efforts.”
“Since then, we have completed nine more judicial authorizations. We understand the concerns raised due to the partial release of this information but once our work is complete, there will be a more fulsome understanding of this incident,” Saunders said.
The SIU investigation drew on interviews with seven officers, 15 civilian witnesses, photo and video footage, a Toronto police firearms report, and autopsy findings and includes a diagram of the crime scene and previously unreleased photographs taken in the wake of the mass shooting.
According to the SIU’s report, the first 911 call reported: “someone had been shot on the Danforth” at Pappas Grill.
“The 911 communications centre was immediately flooded with other callers reporting a shooting on Danforth Ave. and that people were running or injured,” the report found. “One caller indicated that the shooter, Mr. Hussain, had stood on top of a woman and shot her multiple times in the back. At 10:05 p.m., another caller reported that Mr. Hussain was heading westbound on Danforth Ave. and was in possession of a black handgun.”
By 10:06 p.m., two Toronto police officers — who are not identified in the SIU report — were driving together in a marked cruiser nearby when they encountered Hussain on the west side of Bowden St. and approached him. According to the report, they saw Hussain shooting towards nearby 7Numbers restaurant. As they got out of their car and drew their weapons, the officers both said Hussain turned towards them and fired between two to four times in their direction. The officers “almost immediately” shot back, one shooting three times, the other once, according to the report. Because he was taking cover behind a police car, the officer who shot once hit the frame of the back passenger window “causing the glass to shatter and a projectile to become lodged in the window’s frame,” the report found.
Hussain then fled, travelling north on Bowden St. and then westbound on Danforth Ave. A few minutes later, Toronto police officers found Hussain’s body in front of the Danforth Church, at 60 Bowden St.
An autopsy later confirmed his cause of death — a gunshot wound to the head and brain, the SIU said.
“I believe that (the officers) are credible and their accounts of the incident quite reliable because their statements were overwhelmingly consistent with the remainder of the evidence,” Loparco wrote.