Police kill suspect in break-in
Three chased by officers in Markham SIU probes fatal shooting after struggle
The police shooting death of a man who fled from York Region officers is being probed by the province’s Special Investigations Unit. The man, one of three suspects in a stolen minivan who fled the scene of a break- in at a Markham industrial area, was dead on arrival at Scarborough Grace Hospital early yesterday. Two officers in separate cruisers had responded to an alarm shortly before midnight Monday on Esna Park Dr., near Woodbine Ave. and Steeles Ave. E. As they approached the industrial unit, a minivan with three people inside sped off. Less than a block away at Alden Rd., it slammed into another minivan driven by Sukwant Mann of Mississauga, who was heading home after finishing a late shift at a nearby cellular telephone repair centre. Mann escaped injury when the minivan crashed into his vehicle just behind the driver’s door. The three suspects jumped from the minivan and ran off in different directions. An officer arrested one man immediately while the second officer chased a suspect who ran north on Alden Rd. “A struggle ensued between the two and the male was fatally shot by the officer,” said Constable Roman Santos. The third suspect, who ran south toward Steeles, was arrested an hour later. The name of the dead man was being withheld until investigators confirmed his identity and notified relatives. The Special Investigations Unit probes cases where contact between civilians and police results in serious injury or death. SIU spokesperson Kaia Werbus said the unit has assigned seven investigators to the case, including three forensic identification technicians.
It has designated one subject officer and one witness officer in the investigation.
Police sealed off a wide area around the scene yesterday as accident reconstructionists took measurements with electronic devices.
Other officers, including two with police dogs, searched parking lots and fields throughout the industrial zone and canvassed area businesses for witnesses. Anyone with information can contact the SIU at 416- 622- 2150 or 1- 800- 787- 8529. Monday’s shooting is just a few blocks from where York police Constable Douglas Tribbling was slain in August, 1984, as he answered an alarm at a Steelcase Rd. E. computer electronics warehouse.
Ronald Carlton York was convicted of first- degree murder in Tribbling’s death eight years later.
Tribbling was gunned down before he had a chance to draw his own weapon when he responded to a late- night alarm on a summer Sunday at Teo Computer Co.
After seeing a broken glass door, he called for a backup unit, but only moments later, fellow officers found him lying in a pool of blood inside the building’s foyer.
Five bullets damaged his aorta, liver, kidneys, lungs and intestines. The father of three young daughters died two days later at North York General Hospital.