Warning: This story contains graphic content.
The provincial Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared a Peel Regional Police officer of any wrongdoing after he fatally shot a 19-year-old man who was brandishing a knife in a Mississauga home last year.
“There is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case,” wrote SIU director Joseph Martino in his decision. “The file is closed.”
The SIU’s report, which was issued Wednesday, details how events unfolded on Dec. 11, 2025, at a home in the area of Britannia Road and Winston Churchill Boulevard.
Investigators say that afternoon, the 19-year-old invited a family member down to the basement of the home before rushing at him with a knife and stabbing him in the left shoulder. The victim then ran outside to a neighbour’s house, where he called police.
Officers arrived and set up a perimeter around the house before another family member arrived and explained that the man’s mental health had been deteriorating and he was not taking his medication, the SIU says.
The family member also told police the man “had expressed suicidal ideation in the past,” according to the report.
Officers entered the home and discovered the man had barricaded himself in a basement bathroom. They told him to step out with his hands up, but got no response, the report says.
Police then smashed through the bathroom door with a sledgehammer and manoeuvred themselves inside. An officer carrying a C8 rifle was first inside, followed by an officer with a less-lethal shotgun. Two other officers were outside the door.
Police found the man lying on his back in a shower with the water running and blood on the floor.
“The Complainant was unresponsive as officers ordered him to show his hands,” the report reads.
At 3:25 p.m., one of the officers fired a Taser at the man. The 19-year-old then proceeded to get up with a knife in his hand and lunge at the officer who was carrying a gun, according to the SIU.
The first officer deployed his Taser again, followed “immediately” by the other officer with the rifle firing three rounds in quick succession, hitting the man and knocking him into the shower onto his back.
“He fired a fourth round about half-a-second later, and a fifth and final round a couple of seconds after that,” the report reads. “Officers shouted at him to drop the knife and it fell from his hands onto the shower floor.”
Police then dragged the complainant out of the bathroom, handcuffed him and started administering first aid. Paramedics arrived and rushed the man to hospital, but he was pronounced dead at 4:04 p.m.
Martino said there is “insufficient evidence” to conclude the five shots the officer fired were unjustified.
“In that moment, the [officer’s] life was in imminent peril and he was entitled to protect himself from a lethal threat with a resort to lethal force of his own,” he said — though he noted that the fourth and fifth shots are “subject to closer scrutiny.”
“The [man] had fallen backward into the shower after the first three shots and it is unclear on the available [body camera] footage whether he attempted to advance again on the officer,” Martino said.
The director also said there is evidence the man still had a knife and remained a threat even after he was shot three times.
