A man is dead after being shot by Peel police at Toronto Pearson’s Terminal 1 Thursday morning.
The shooting happened shortly before 7 a.m. after police received a call from a member of the public about a dispute involving two or three people, Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said. The group knew each other and was there “for the purposes of travel,” he said.
Three officers responded to the call. Police had been attempting to mediate the dispute for around 10 minutes when the man abruptly took out a firearm and pointed it at an officer, he said.
Kristy Denette, the spokesperson for the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), told reporters the man did not fire his weapon at police, adding it’s unclear whether he pointed the weapon at the officers.
Two of the officers fired at the man, the SIU said, correcting its earlier release that said three officers opened fire. The man, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene, it added.
The man was “in distress” and had been in an SUV at Terminal 1 departures, but the shooting happened outside the vehicle, the SIU said.
Denette said some family members were present at the time of the shooting, and the SUV had a child’s booster seat inside.
No police officers were injured and a post-mortem exam for the man is scheduled for Friday morning, the SIU said.
The shooting “is an isolated incident and there are no known threats to public safety,” Peel police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Asked about the shooting at an unrelated event Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called it unacceptable.
“What’s the world coming to? You go to the airport and there’s shootings happening,” he said.
Man didn’t fire weapon before being shot dead by police at Pearson: SIU
Peel paramedics responded to the scene around 6:56 a.m., a spokesperson confirmed.
Duraiappah called the shooting a “tragic incident” and said it was not an attack on the airport.
“There was nothing that was compromising the airport operations,” he said.
Police have body camera footage of the incident and are cooperating fully with the SIU’s investigation, he said.
Duraiappah said there was a large police presence on scene, along with SIU investigators.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in incidents across Ontario that may have resulted in death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm or allegations of sexual assault.
Danilo Simic told CBC News he had just dropped off a friend at the airport and was planning his route home to Hamilton when he heard 10 or more loud bangs.
“Right away I thought, this can’t be a car’s loud exhaust. This is something different, something that I haven’t heard before,” he said.
‘I have to get out of here’: Witness recounts moments of police-involved shooting at Pearson
Simic said he ducked in his car, assuming the noises were gunshots. Everyone around him “came to a standstill,” he said.
Two police cruisers soon sped past him, he said.
As Simic drove away, he saw a man lying on the ground bleeding from his torso and his head. An officer was giving the man CPR, he said.
Police were also holding back a woman from the scene, Simic said.
Another witness, Jake Seymour, said he was outside on the airport’s lower level when the shooting happened.
He said he heard multiple shots, then went to the top floor to see if he could offer first aid. First responders were already there, he said in a direct message to CBC Toronto.
Seymour said exits in the area were blocked off. The scene that was taped off wasn’t on the roadway where passengers immediately exited the airport, but rather the secondary roadway closer to the airport’s parking garage, he said.
Images from the scene showed a heavy police presence with several Peel Regional Police vehicles parked outside the massive three-level terminal building that’s the hub of Air Canada’s operations and most major international flights.
CBC News crews spotted at least a dozen police cars en route to the departures area of Terminal 1.
One image from the scene showed a grey Jeep Cherokee in a section of the road that’s been cornered off with police tape. There were several white evidence markers on the ground behind the vehicle, which had its trunk open.
The SIU confirmed this was the vehicle involved in the shooting.
A number of passengers were seen wheeling their suitcases between police cruisers with their lights flashing while making their way into Terminal 1.
UPDATE | Everything we know about the police-involved Pearson shooting
Pearson airport said flights were operating normally on Thursday despite the police investigation.
The road to Terminal 1 departures was closed, but has since reopened, the airport says.
Highway 409 to Terminal 1 departures was closed due to the police investigation but has since reopened, Ontario Provincial Police said in a post on X on Friday.
The 900 Airport Express bus was detouring via Terminal 3 due to police activity, but service has since resumed, the Toronto Transit Commission said.
Service on the UP Express appeared to be unaffected.
