Man with machete shot dead by police
SIU investigate daylight incident at bank at Eglinton and Kennedy
A man armed with a machete was shot dead by Toronto police on Friday afternoon, across the street from a Scarborough bank, according to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit.
Officers were called to the TD Canada Trust branch on the northeast corner of Eglinton Ave. E. and Kennedy Rd. around 12:35 p.m., following reports of a man wielding a machete, Toronto police spokesman Const. Tony Vella said.
A confrontation followed on the southeast corner of the intersection, across from the bank, and two officers fired their guns, striking the 50-year-old man, the SIU said.
Kim Gauthier, 21, was sitting in class at Everest College, at the corner where the shooting happened. She said an officer rushed into the fourth-floor classroom, telling everybody inside to stay where they were.
She looked out the front window to see a police officer doing chest compressions on the victim, who was lying on his back with his shirt cut open.
“I was shocked, seeing it right outside the school in the middle of the day,” said Gauthier, who did not hear gunshots. “Who knows what was going through this man’s head?”
Paramedics took over and rushed the man to hospital without vital signs, according to police. SIU investigators confirmed shortly after that the man had died.
Gauthier said the man had an injury on his right shoulder, which she presumed was a bullet wound. The man was not moving. She described the victim as a middle-aged black man with long hair.
The southeast corner of the intersection was cornered off as officers scoured for evidence. A torn yellow shirt and a small machete sat by a pile of bricks in front of a walk-in dental clinic, while a large, dark-coloured parka lay several metres away.
A sign posted outside the bank explained that it was closed due to an emergency. Police officers stood in the lobby to prevent customers from entering.
Meanwhile, staff could be seen inside the bank, still seated behind the counter. One distraught woman was escorted out of the building by a plainclothes police officer. The bank reopened later in the afternoon. The SIU has assigned six investigators and three forensic investigators to probe the incident. The agency investigates incidents involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
The victim’s name has not been released.