A police officer who shot a 30-year-old man earlier this year in downtown Hamilton did not commit a criminal offense in connection with the incident, says the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
The shooting happened on March 16 at a multi-dwelling residence in the Corktown neighbourhood, near Hunter Street East and Spring Street.
The civilian agency says officers attended a two-bedroom apartment on the main floor just before 4 p.m. that day after receiving reports of a man who had been stabbed in the neck by a male intruder.
Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene within minutes, Ontario’s police watchdog said.
There, police officers found a male suspect armed with a knife in a bedroom with the door closed. They forced open the door and a man “jabbed” at them with a knife through the doorway before “he was met with gunfire,” the civilian agency said.
A report by the SIU’s director said the intruder was shot six times by an officer, who was designated as the subject official (SO).
The SIU said police then removed a knife from that man’s left hand and handcuffed him. First aid was administered prior to paramedics arriving at the scene, it noted.
Hamilton police advised the SIU of the shooting at 4:35 p.m. and the agency subsequently invoked its mandate.
Investigators arrived at the scene shortly before 6 p.m. Four SIU investigators and three SIU forensic investigators were assigned to the case.
The victim of the stabbing, later identified by police as 74-year-old Hamilton resident Charles James Francis “Jacques” Jouvence, was reported deceased at 5:15 p.m., the SIU said.
His death was ruled a homicide.
David Gomez-Rodriguez, 30, of no fixed address, has been charged with second-degree murder.
In his follow-up report, which was released on July 23, SIU Director Joseph Martino said six spent 9mm cartridge cases were located inside the apartment: three of which were found on the floor in Bedroom 1—just inside the doorway—while two were found in Bedroom 2.
“The final cartridge case was found in a box of medical supplies on the floor of the kitchen,” he noted.
“The number of spent cartridge cases recovered in the apartment was in agreement with the number of cartridges believed to be missing from the (subject officer’s) firearm.”
Martino also indicated that one of the bullets struck the doorway of the second bedroom. That projectile has not been recovered, as it appears to have fallen behind a wall.
A projectile was also found in Bedroom 2, Martino said, in the sheets on the floor at the end of the bed.
He also noted that a “trail of blood” was seen on the kitchen floor and that a fish fillet knife “smeared with blood on the blade” was found on the pile of clothes on the floor of the second bedroom. That room also contained a pillow with a “large blood smear” on it, the director said in his report.
Complainant had ‘numerous interactions’ with Hamilton police, says SIU
The SIU further indicated that the Subject Profile report for the man, referred to as the Complainant, showed that he had “numerous interactions with the HPS.”
“He was often found to be in possession of a glass bowl pipe. He also admitted to hearing voices and believed people were after him,” the agency said.
In conclusion, Martino indicated that there are no “reasonable grounds to believe that the SO committed a criminal offence in connection with the shooting.”
Martino said the SO and the other officers involved had “good reason” to believe that the Complainant had just stabbed the victim and was still inside the apartment, noting that they were “within their rights in entering the apartment to arrest (him) and ensure public safety.”
He also added that he’s satisfied that the SO shot the Complainant believing it necessary to protect himself from a reasonably apprehended attack.
“Though he did not provide that evidence firsthand in an interview with the SIU, as was his legal right, that was the import of his written statement,” Martino noted.
“There is little reason to doubt the officer given the knife attack he was confronting at the time he fired his weapon.”
Director says shots fired ‘constituted reasonable force in self-defence’
Lastly, the director said that he’s also satisfied that the shots fired by the SO “constituted reasonable force in self-defence.”
“The SO had cause to believe that his life, and the lives of the other officers with him, were in peril when the Complainant thrust the knife he was holding in their direction. The Complainant had just stabbed the victim while an intruder in his apartment, and was now actively attacking the officers with the knife at close range,” Martino wrote.
“Given the speed of events, retreat or withdrawal were not realistic options. Immediate action was required in the circumstances, and gunfire was the only recourse available with the stopping power demanded of the moment.”
He added that this decision to move forward was a “reasonable one and entitled to a measure of deference,” given the large amount of blood on the kitchen floor as well as the concerns of another victim at the scene
“On this record, I am unable to reasonably conclude that the SO acted without warrant when he chose to meet a real and present danger of death or grievous bodily harm with a resort to lethal force of his own,” Martino said.
The SIU is called in to investigate when police are involved in an incident that results in death, serious injury, sexual assault, and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
