EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story contains details from the SIU report that may be disturbing for readers.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared two Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officers of criminal wrongdoing in the Pine Street shooting incident that left a 19-year-old dead last September.
According to the SIU report, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service received a 911 call at 3:41 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 19, 2021 regarding a man, who was suspected of having a firearm, threatening the lives of a woman and her boyfriend.
The couple “had fled their residence on Pine Street upon receiving word from an acquaintance that the suspect had just threatened both their lives and was on his way to their apartment.” The suspect was seemingly upset about designer handbags in the boyfriend’s possession, the report said.
The woman called police a second and third time. During the last call, the woman indicated that the suspect was walking along the side of her building. The woman and her boyfriend were calling police from the Food Basics parking lot across the street at the time.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service arrived on scene in the 700 block of Pine Street at 4 a.m.
“Officers located the man outside the residence and drew their firearms. The man removed a firearm from his hoodie and shot multiple rounds at officers,” reads the SIU report. “One shot struck an officer in the left leg. Two officers returned fire and then took cover. One officer saw the man still standing and fired his weapon again.
“The man fell to the ground and, seconds later, shot himself in the head. Paramedics attended and pronounced the man dead at the scene.”
The suspect was shot four times by police. Officers fired 17 rounds in all. The suspect fired between eight and 11 rounds.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Const. Ryan Vendramin, a 26-year-old officer in his first year with the police service at the time of the incident, was shot and seriously injured during the exchange of gunfire with the suspect.
An officer reportedly “rendered life-saving treatment, applying a tourniquet to his left leg to stem the bleeding,” according to the report.
The SIU is an independent civilian law enforcement agency that conducts criminal investigations into matters involving police and civilians that have resulted in serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault.
The full report can be viewed here.