SIU extends probe into toddler’s death

Critics question length of investigation into police shooting of man, 18-month-old son a year ago

Just days away from the anniversary of an Ontario Provincial Police officer fatally shooting a baby and his father during an alleged child abduction, the province’s police watchdog has still made no decision about criminal charges in one of its highest-profile cases.

In a statement Tuesday, the Special Investigations Unit said it’s in the final stages of what it called a “major” investigation — but nearly 365 days since the unprecedented fatal police shooting of a baby, the watchdog hasn’t resolved the case and can’t say when it will.

“I think the public rightfully has reason to be concerned about delay in the case like this,” said Christine Mainville, a Toronto lawyer who served as counsel on an omnibus 2017 review of police oversight by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Michael Tulloch.

Acknowledging that this case may be particularly complex, the investigation nonetheless seems to be taking a “very long” time, Mainville told the Star, noting the length of watchdog probes was an issue identified by Tulloch in the review. She stressed that these investigations should not be rushed, “but the longer it takes, certainly the more reporting back to the public there needs to be.”

Friday marks the one-year anniversary since 18-month-old Jameson Shapiro was shot and killed when the OPP opened fire on his father’s truck in Kawartha Lakes (the SIU has not released the boy’s identity, but it has been independently confirmed by the Star). The boy’s 33-year-old father was also shot and later died in hospital.

The Nov. 26 shooting by three OPP officers was the chaotic culmination of a call to police about a father abducting his son from the Municipality of Trent Lakes, near Bobcaygeon. According to the SIU, after police tracked the father’s truck to a rural road in Kawartha Lakes, he crashed into an OPP cruiser and another vehicle, seriously injuring an OPP officer putting out a spike belt. The officers then opened fire on the truck.

For nearly three months after the shooting, it was initially unclear who had shot the baby, and the SIU initially noted a handgun had been found inside the father’s truck. In February, the watchdog confirmed that forensic evidence, including trajectory and bloodstain analysis, had determined the baby had been shot by police.

In an update Tuesday, spokesperson Kristy Denette said the SIU has received the results of its rare request to have the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation provide a forensic report. The watchdog announced in August it had tapped the FBI to provide “specialized, out-of-country forensic testing of some of the ballistic evidence.”

“The SIU is reviewing the FBI’s forensic report and continues to actively investigate this tragic case,” the SIU said in its release Tuesday.

In a statement to the Star, Denette acknowledged the investigation “is taking time to complete” and that the watchdog is committed to conducting a thorough and complete investigation. The probe has been a “major investigation that has required dozens of interviews and complex forensic examinations,” she said.

Denette confirmed the SIU has not interviewed the three cops who opened fire. The SIU has requested statements from them in the letter designating them as subject officers, Denette said, but “none of the officers have to date stepped forward to provide a statement.”

I think the public rightfully has reason to be concerned about delay in the case like this. CHRISTINE MAINVILLE, TORONTO LAWYER