Off-duty Ontario police officer killed in crash on way to work

An off-duty York cop was killed early Wednesday in a head-on crash in Markham, adding to the pain of an already heartbreaking week for the GTA policing community.

York Regional Police say the deadly two-vehicle collision involving a white Honda Accord — driven by Const.

Travis Gillespie — and a Porsche Cayenne occurred on Major Mackenzie Dr. E., west of Warden Ave., around 6 a.m.

“This is devastating news for all members of our organization,” Chief Jim Macsween said in a statement after the crash. “I offer my deepest condolences to Travis’ family, friends and colleagues.

“It’s never easy to lose a member and to have lost Travis so unexpectedly is very difficult,” he added.

Const. Maniva Armstrong spoke to media at the scene, fighting back emotions as she explained the 38-year-old officer was heading to work when he was killed.

The driver of the Porsche, a 23-year-old man from Markham whose name has not been released, was taken to hospital.

Armstrong said he suffered “minor injuries.”

When asked the possibility the other driver may have been impaired, she was only able to say, “There have been no charges laid at this time.”

The officer’s off-duty death comes less than 48 hours after Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong — a 48-year-old married father of two with 22 years of service — was shot at point-blank range in an unprovoked attack while on duty as he ate lunch at a Tim Hortons in Mississauga.

The gunman then shot and wounded another person during a carjacking before heading to MK Auto Repairs and shooting three others, killing the shop’s owner, Shakeel Ashraf, 38.

A suspect, identified as Sean Petrie, 40, was later shot to death by police in a Hamilton cemetery.