Inquest called into OPP shooting of northern Ontario man brandishing toy gun

An inquest will be held into the death of 42-year-old John-Paul George, who died in 2020 after being shot by Ontario Provincial Police officers at a New Liskeard home.

The announcement was made Jan. 5 by Dr. Harry Voogjarv, Regional Supervising Coroner, North Region, Sudbury Office.

The inquest will examine the circumstances surrounding George’s death. The jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths.

Details regarding the date and location will be provided at a later date when the information becomes available.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Coroner confirmed to Sudbury.com that the George case has already previously been investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). You can view the full SIU file online here.

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in Ontario that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. 

A press release issued by the SIU in 2021 said that on the night of April 9, 2020, an individual called 911 from a residence in New Liskeard (Temiskaming Shores), reporting a home invasion involving a man armed with a gun and a possible hostage situation. 

Upon entering the home, officers heard shouts coming from the second floor. One officer yelled upstairs for everyone to come down immediately. A 42-year-old man then emerged at the top of the stairs and began to make his way down the stairs with what appeared to be a handgun. 

Officers ordered the man to stop, and when the man continued to descend with his gun pointed at one of the officers, two officers discharged their firearms, four and two times, respectively.

The man was struck, and officers retrieved the weapon from underneath his torso, threw it aside, and handcuffed him behind his back. One of the officers assisted in performing CPR. He was transported to hospital where he was pronounced deceased. 

Police later learned that the “gun” the suspect had brandished was, in fact, a toy gun.

The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, determined in 2021 there were no reasonable grounds to believe that either officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s death.  

Martino said in his report that the man shot by the OPP was “clearly not himself around the time of the shooting. He was variously aggressive, violent, paranoid and suicidal. Various drugs were detected in blood taken from the Complainant at autopsy, which may account for some if not all of this behaviour.

“Be that as it may, the subject officers were responding to an emergency situation in which they had good reason to believe that the Complainant represented a real and present danger to the life and health of someone inside the home.

“Thereafter, face-to-face with the Complainant pointing what appeared to be a handgun in their direction, I am satisfied for the foregoing reasons that they acted within the scope of legally justified force when they discharged their weapons.”