Slain man had weapon, source says

Man fatally shot in alley armed with real or replica gun: Police

Toronto police officers from the force’s tactical unit negotiated with Alex Wettlaufer for at least 15 minutes before firing their weapons, killing the young man who a police source says was armed with either a real or replica gun.

Wettlaufer, 21, died after three Toronto police offi- cers fired their weapons late Sunday night in a darkened ravine in a North York park near the Leslie subway station.

The man’s grieving family has said Wettlaufer was not armed at the time of the shooting and was holding his cellphone and speaking to his mother in the moments right before he was shot.

But a police source with knowledge of the investigation says Wettlaufer was carrying a gun, though it is not yet clear if it was real or a replica.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the probe into the fatal shooting has been taken over by the province’s Special Investigations Unit, the civilian agency that probes deaths involving police. Police are legally not allowed to release information about the incident while the SIU is investigating.

The SIU, meanwhile, says it cannot confirm that Wettlaufer was armed because the investigation is ongoing. Information about whether the young man was armed may not be provided until the probe is completed, a process that typically takes several months or up to a year.

Toronto officers were first called around 11:15 p.m. after reports of a fight between two men at the Leslie subway station, near Leslie St. and Sheppard Ave. E. Toronto police tweeted at the time that one of them had a gun.

According to investigators, one of the men fled to the park across the street, where there was a confrontation with Toronto police.

Soon after, members of the Emergency Task Force (ETF), a specially trained tactical unit called in for critical situations including when someone is armed, arrived to begin negotiations with Wettlaufer.

ETF officers are trained in negotiation and generally a negotiator will wear a recording device to capture audio, though it’s not clear if that occurred in this case.

The police source said the officers attempted for at least 15 minutes to speak with Wettlaufer — “an ongoing, prolonged negotiation.”

Three officers then fired their weapons, though officials have not yet released how many times Wettlaufer was shot.

Court documents show Wettlaufer was facing three criminal charges at the time of his death, dating back to an October 2014 incident.

Alongside three other accused, Wettlaufer faced one of robbery for allegedly stealing a cellphone and one count of assault causing bodily harm, for allegedly attacking two people.

Wettlaufer alone was charged with the unauthorized possession of a knife that opens through the use of centrifugal force — a weapon that requires a licence.

All of the charges against Wettlaufer were before the court at the time of his death. With files from Chris Reynolds