A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the torso by Peel Regional Police in a shopping plaza in Mississauga last month has succumbed to his injuries, the province’s Special Investigations Unit says.
Police say that they were initially called to a gas station at Credit Valley Town Plaza in the area of Brittania and Creditview roads for a report of an armed robbery in progress at around 1:50 a.m.
Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Jason Gennaro said at the time that two of the three suspects in that robbery fled the scene in a grey vehicle while the third remained on scene and allegedly attempted to rob another establishment.
Gennaro says that suspect then attempted to get into three separate parked vehicles that had people inside them but was unable to gain entry.
At one point he confronted a woman, Janet Wade-Hunt, who was doing paperwork in her vehicle near a Pizza-Pizza outlet in the plaza, but she convinced to him to leave her alone, making up a story that her boyfriend was coming soon to meet her.
At that point, police arrived on scene and confronted the suspect outside a bank.
An officer discharged a firearm at the boy, believed to be an assault-style rifle, and struck him once in the torso, according to paramedics.
Wade-Hunt told CP24 at the time that she heard between six and seven gunshots
Sources previously told CP24 that a handgun was recovered at the scene; however Gennaro said at the time that he could not confirm whether or not the suspect exchanged fire with the officers or whether he was even armed.
He was rushed to hospital in serious but stable condition. He succumbed to his wounds on Saturday afternoon.
The SIU says it will not release the boy’s name at this time.
Six investigators and two forensic investigators have been assigned to the case by the SIU.
The agency is called to investigate any interaction between an Ontario police officer and a member of the public that results in death, serious injury or an allegation of sexual assault.
