Four ‘subject officers’ identified in probe into police shooting in Canada

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Ontario’s police watchdog has identified four “subject officers” in the death of a man who went on a shooting rampage across three cities in Canada on Monday, killing a Toronto police officer and the owner of a Milton auto repair shop.

An update issued by the Special Investigations Unit on Wednesday does not name the 40-year-old man who was shot dead in Hamilton after police pursued him there, but sources previously identified him to the Star as Sean Petrie, who had a criminal record dating back at least 20 years.

The SIU release says his family did not consent to his identity being made public by the watchdog.

According to the release, two officers each from the Halton and Hamilton police services have been designated as subject officers — meaning the independent investigative body believes those are the officers who may have caused Petrie’s death.

Another 10 Halton officers and seven Hamilton officers have been identified as witnesses.

The investigation is ongoing.

The SIU investigates all allegations of serious injury, death or sexual assault involving Ontario police officers. The agency has the power to clear officers of wrongdoing or charge them under the Criminal Code; the existence of an SIU investigation does not imply evidence of wrongdoing.

On Monday, police rushed to a shopping plaza in Mississauga where Const. Andrew Hong, of Toronto police’s Traffic Services unit, and his colleagues had stopped for lunch during a joint training exercise between the Toronto, Peel and York police services.

Hong was shot inside a Tim Hortons before Petrie next crossed Argentia Road near Winston Churchill Boulevard and shot resident Graham Hall, stealing his Jeep Cherokee. Hall is recovering in hospital.

Petrie then drove to Milton where he killed auto body shop owner Shakeel Ashraf and wounded two others. Ashraf’s friends and family were gathering at a mosque for his funeral Wednesday afternoon.

Hong’s death has led to an outpouring of emotion from Ontario emergency workers, politicians and well-wishers. He has been remembered as charming and caring, a “gentle giant” who was known by his colleagues on the Winged Wheels — Toronto police’s motorcycle squad — as “Honger.”

Ashraf has been remembered as a skillful mechanic and devoted family man who loved cricket.

The series of shootings ended in Hamilton where, around 4:30 p.m., the SIU said the suspect was confronted by officers from Halton and Hamilton’s services in Mount Hamilton Cemetery near York Blvd.

Paramedics were called, but Petrie died at the scene.