A police officer who attempted to retrieve video after Andrew Loku was fatally shot by his colleague acted within his right, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said Monday.

In a written statement released to media Monday afternoon, Saunders said his officers have a “legal onus” to secure all evidence at a scene and that his officer did not in fact review the video as the Special Investigations Unit suggested.

“Our officers have a legal onus to fulfil this responsibility. This includes the necessity to secure video evidence,” Saunders said. “Because of this, my officers attempted to locate and secure the video. Due to technical difficulties, they were unable to. They did not review the video, nor did they download the video. An officer was posted to security the scene until technical assistance could be contacted. The SIU, in fact, downloaded the video at later time. The SIU’s forensic examination states that no tampering took place.”

SIU representatives were also present at the scene when the officer attempted to get the footage, Saunders said.

“At no point did they question, contradict or prevent my officers from carrying out this responsibility,” he said in the statement.

Saunders was responding to comments made by SIU Director Tony Loparco in a 34-page report that was partially made public Friday afternoon.

In the report, Loparco suggests the unnamed officer violated the rules by his actions.

The report indicates an officer not involved in the incident “saw fit to attempt to review and download the video recordings captured by cameras” in the apartment hallway.

“I have not as yet heard an adequate explanation for the officer’s conduct,” Loparco wrote.

The video of the incident also contained gaps – something that has raised suspicion among police critics.

The SIU report, however, states that investigators found that the cameras simply did not record the shooting incident, and had not been tampered with or had their memories erased.

“That explanation however, becomes much more difficult to accept when police unduly insert themselves in the post-incident investigation, as they appear to have done in this case,” Loparco wrote.

The SIU has not responded to the chief’s recent comments.

The Andrew Loku case has garnered much criticism by advocacy groups like Black Lives Matter who suggest the 45-year-old man was unjustly shot and killed by police.

Loku was fatally shot by Toronto police at an apartment on Gilbert Avenue, in the Caledonia and Rogers roads area, on July 5.

Police were initially called to the apartment building for a report of a man threatening to kill a woman with a hammer.

Police and civilian witnesses told the SIU that when officers located Loku, he was marching down his apartment hallway towards officers with a hammer lifted over his head, goading them to shoot him, the report says.

“What you going to do, come on, shoot me,” Loku was heard saying.

Loku closed in from eight or nine metres away to within two or three metres of two officers before he was shot twice in the torso.

The SIU, an oversight agency that investigates the actions of police anytime a civilian is seriously injured or killed in their presence, found the officers were acting reasonably to preserve their lives and the lives of others when Loku was shot.

The case prompted mass demonstrations by Black Lives Matter as members called for a review of police oversight agencies.

On Friday, the attorney general’s office announce an independent review would take place and that recommendations would be made on how to release information from the typically confidential SIU reports.

Saunders said the Toronto Police Service is strongly in favour of a review of the regulations governing the province’s police watchdog.

“I believe the SIU director is using this opportunity to highlight his desire for a strong review of the regulations that govern his agency,” Saunders said in his statement. “This is a review the TPS strongly supports.”