Final hours of man shot dead by police revealed in inquest
Probe expected to hear Ian Pryce might have experienced delusions
One day before he was shot dead by Toronto police, Ian Pryce showed up unannounced on the doorstep of his former neighbour “erratic,” “desperate” and clearly in need of help.
“I’ve never seen him so antsy. I was really concerned for him at that time,” said Cindy Marshall, who befriended a young Pryce when he lived next door to her in about 2010. “He looked a lot different. He’d lost a lot of weight . . . I didn’t recognize him.”
The coroner’s inquest began Monday into the November 2013 death of Pryce, 30, who was shot dead by two unnamed Toronto police officers.
Pryce was killed following a lengthy standoff with the Toronto police Emergency Task Force near Sherbourne and Carlton Sts., after Pryce was seen wielding what police believed was a firearm. It was later learned it was a pellet gun.
In January 2015, the Special Investigations Unit, which probes serious injuries or deaths involving police, cleared both officers who shot Pryce, saying it would not have been apparent at the time of the shooting that Pryce’s gun was fake.
In its statement announcing no charges would be laid in the fatal shooting, the SIU did not reveal Pryce was the victim of the fatal police shooting; his identity was first revealed by the Star. In an interview, his mother, Heather Thompson, said she wanted her son’s name released in order to prevent other tragedies.
Thompson told the Star her son was a kind, gentle young man transformed by mental illness. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, lived on and off the streets and may not have been taking his medication at the time of his death, she said.
At Monday’s inquest, coroner’s counsel Michael Blain provided a sketch of what the inquest is expected to hear.
“I’ve never seen him so antsy. I was really concerned for him at that time.” CINDY MARSHALL ON SEEING IAN PRYCE
It includes the events leading up to Pryce’s death on Nov. 13, 2013, and information about his involvement with the mental-health system.
Blain said the inquest is expected to hear how Pryce may have been experiencing delusions during the standoff with Toronto police, insisting at various points that he was a judge, a justice of the peace and a police officer.
Court heard the incident began after police realized there was a warrant out for Pryce’s arrest on an assault charge, attempted to stop him, then saw him holding what they believed was a firearm. Pryce attempted to flee police and ended up on the porch of a home on Sherbourne St.
That building houses a number of units reserved for people with mental-health challenges. Marco Villa, the housing program’s director, described to jurors Monday the frantic moments when he realized Pryce was outside on the porch, and that heavily armed police were gathering right outside.
“He’s pointing the gun at someone . . . I can see him from the kitchen,” Villa says in a 911 call played at the inquest. “I’m going to ask everyone to leave . . . I’ve got people I need to take care of here in social housing.”
Villa described Monday how he ushered all the building’s inhabitants up to the third floor and waited for further instruction from police about evacuation of the building.
Court heard how Villa called police two more times; the third time, when asked if it would be a good idea to start the evacuation, Villa was told to either go outside and ask the officers — currently engaged in a standoff — or to call a “non-emergency number.”
“Why are you calling 911 and asking for the police? They’re there, go talk to one there,” the 911 dispatcher said.
“Because there is a guy with a gun,” Villa replied.
Peter Rosenthal, a Toronto lawyer who is representing Thompson, Pryce’s mother, questioned why, given the number of officers who were on scene, one or two were not detailed to help ensure the residents in the building were safe not just from Pryce, but from the armed police surrounding the building. He said the situation could result in a recommendation from the jury.
Court also heard that an autopsy showed Pryce, an otherwise healthy 30-year-old man, was shot twice: a serious but non-fatal shot to the side of the face, striking his left eye; and a fatal gunshot wound to the back, which entered through his back, struck a lung and his aorta, before exiting through the front of his chest. He died within a matter of seconds or minutes.
A toxicology test conducted on Pryce came back positive for THC, showing he had used a marijuana product sometime before his death. There was no presence of psychiatric medication in his blood, though it’s possible the toxicology test may not have detected trace amounts.
Carrie Pryce, Ian’s half-sister, described how he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was 19, about a decade before his death. He began experiencing delusions, and his family began noticing a change in his personality, including that he was becoming more reserved.
Pryce described her brother as a typically peaceful person. She was surprised to hear he had been carrying a pellet gun. “He must have been really unwell,” she said.
Marshall, the neighbour who Pryce sought out just one day before his death, described him as a “gentle kid.” In 2010, when he lived alone in a basement next door to her and her then-husband, Pryce helped them around the house.
They lost touch in the year or so before Pryce’s death. When he appeared on her doorstep wearing sunglasses, a long trench coat and a hat, he appeared to be a different person. He was asking for a drink of water, talking erratically about how he was concerned he was going to be evicted. She tried to suggest he seek help at a hospital, but he wasn’t listening.
The inquest continues Tuesday.