Ontario’s police watchdog says that it has received ballistics testing results from the FBI as it continues to “actively investigate” the fatal police shooting of a one-year-old boy and his father in Kawartha Lakes nearly a year ago.
The Special Investigations Unit has previously said that Ontario Provincial Police officers were responding to a reported parental abduction on Nov. 26, 2020 when they attempted to pull over a vehicle of interest on Sturgeon Road.
The vehicle, however, failed to come to a stop and eventually collided with an OPP cruiser and a civilian vehicle, injuring an officer who was attempting to lay down a spike belt in the process.
The SIU has said that a total of three officer then opened fire following some sort of altercation with the driver.
When the shooting stopped, a one-year-old boy was found in the vehicle with gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on scene. His 33-year-old father was also found suffering from gunshot wounds. He was rushed to hospital but died from his injuries about a week later.
“The SIU is reviewing the FBI’s forensic report and continues to actively investigate this tragic case. The SIU understands the public interest in the results; however, as is our process with all ongoing SIU cases, the unit does not release details that could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation,” the SIU said in a news release issued on Tuesday afternoon
It is not clear whether the completion of the tests makes a resolution to the case any closer but in its release the SIU did acknowledged the looming one-year anniversary of the tragedy.
“The SIU recognizes the one-year anniversary of this case is approaching and is moving as quickly as it can to bring the investigation to resolution,” the release notes.
The SIU has said in the past that three officers who discharged their weapons during the altercation have not agreed to be interviewed.
