Toronto officer stabbed, suspect shot
Both in stable condition after incident outside restaurant at College and Lansdowne
A Toronto police officer shot a man who stabbed him during an altercation Friday afternoon, according to the province’s police watchdog.
Kristy Denette, spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, told reporters at the scene that officers were responding to a call about a person in crisis at a plaza near College Street and Lansdowne Avenue. Outside of the Tim Hortons, “some type of struggle” with two officers ensued where one of them was stabbed, she added.
“The police officers were going to attempt to apprehend the man under the Mental Health Act,” Denette said.
During the struggle, Denette said, police used a Taser on the man, who is 28 years old, at least twice before shooting him. Denette confirmed it was the stabbed officer who shot the man who is in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Jon Reid, president of the Toronto Police Association spoke to reporters outside St. Michael’s Hospital where the stabbed officer was taken and said he was in stable condition, as well.
“All things considered, he’s in really good spirits,” said Reid, who described the 22-year-old officer as “well-liked by his colleagues. I can tell you from talking to him he’s very passionate about his job.
The officer is the fourth member of the Toronto police force to be injured in the past two weeks.
A large pool of blood could be seen Friday outside of the Tim Hortons where two police officers guarded the entrance. A few feet away, three more but smaller pools of blood were on the parking lot pavement with a jacket and broken set of glasses.
Francie Peria identified the man that got shot as Gabriel, her boyfriend of five years. Peria said the two were inside the Tim Hortons having a coffee when police arrived and told Gabriel they had a warrant for his arrest.
SIU’s statement, which is similar to the one given by Toronto police deputy chief Lauren Pogue, differ from what the Star was told by Peria.
“They said, ‘You look like a Gabriel. We have a warrant for Gabriel,’ and they tackled him,” Peria said.
She added that the officers “went on top of him” as he tried to run and that “he was tackled by force.”
Peria noted she’s never been concerned about her safety with him.
When asked about the arrest warrant, Denette said: “I don’t have information about a warrant.”
Peria made reference to Gabriel being mentally unwell but did not clarify what that meant but that police should be more cautious in approaching people, “especially if you know they’re not mentally all there.”
The city added a 24/7 crisis response centre as a pilot project to its list of emergency services last year, where appropriate 911 calls with no imminent threat of violence can be diverted to a team of responders equipped to handle mental health crises.
The service, however, currently only operates in four parts of the city.
The location of Friday’s incident is just outside of its downtown west jurisdiction.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has previously said she wants to expand the service citywide, although it could take the rest of this year to hire and train all new team members needed to get the service fully functioning across Toronto.
In a graphic video circulating on social media that shows the scene shortly after the incident, and confirmed by police, an officer can be seen on the ground with another officer grasping his leg next to a large pool of blood.
A third officer can be seen arresting a man in a hoodie on the ground near the entrance of a Tim Hortons.
“Hang on, I’ve been shot,” says the man on the ground as police take his hands, prepare to handcuff him and ask him where he was shot.
“The cop got stabbed, the man got shot. Look at the knife,” the bystander says to another man as the video shows a large, black-handled knife and large pools of blood.
Peria recalls Gabriel apologizing to the officer after the stabbing. “I just think if it was handled differently, this would have never gone to this moment.”
Peria said she was still processing how the incident unfolded. “It just doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.
“Our officer is surrounded by his colleagues and has the full support of command and all Toronto Police Service members,” Pogue said Friday at the scene, noting that what happened “underscores the inherent risks officers confront daily while serving the community.”
Chow posted about the incident on X, wishing the injured officer “a quick recovery.”
“This week, three Toronto Police officers were injured doing their duties. One assaulted walking down the street, another hurt intervening in a car theft, and now this troubling incident,” Chow said in her tweet. “Violence is never acceptable.”
The SIU is the province’s police watchdog. The agency is called in to investigate whenever police discharge a firearm, or when they are involved in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault.
The agency is urging anyone who may have information about this incident to contact the lead investigator at 1-800787-8529.