SIU Concludes Investigation Into Man Fatally Shot by Windsor Police At Downtown Beer Store

The Director of the Special Investigations Unit has found no reasonable grounds to believe two Windsor Police Service officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of a 57-year-old man at he downtown Windsor beer store last year.

According to investigations, the incident began in the morning of September 6th, 2024,  after the male left his residence on Ouellette Avenue holding a pocket-knife in his right hand and, in his left, a metal bar with a knife affixed to one end.

“Highly agitated and paranoid, he made utterances to a group he approached that people were trying to kill him, after which he made his way to a nearby grocery store (Food Basics). His erratic behaviour continued inside the store, where he threatened to stab a store employee if he did not back up. He was persuaded to leave the store and did so,” the report states.

When police arrived, they observed the male walking north across Elliott Street, east of Goyeau Street. Bringing their cruiser to a stop on Elliott Street, the officers exited and confronted the Complainant as he was approaching the sliding entrance/exit doors of The Beer Store. Police ordered him to stop and then followed him into the store as the sliding doors opened.

The man led the officers northward in the store before turning to face them at another set of sliding doors leading to the cooler. One officer shouted at him to drop the knives and told him he was under arrest. The man responded, “Kill me. Kill me.”

Another officer fired her taser at the man.  He fell backward onto the floor of the cooler but was able to right himself.  The officer fired it again. Unfazed by the second discharge, the man continued northward towards the north wall of the cooler.

Over the following seconds, the officers pursued the man through the cooler’s aisles. Repeatedly told to drop the knives, he continued to reply, “Kill me. Kill me.” At one point, an officer pushed a nearby cart at him to create distance. In doing so, the magazine dislodged from the officer’s firearm and fell to the floor. The man continued his flight.

Having reached the southern wall of the cooler, the man turned left to head east towards the exit doors. An officer was able to cut him off before he reached the doors. The officer fired a single round, striking him.  He turned and ran back westward against the southern wall. He was confronted by the second officer just before he reached the west wall. The officer, now with a firearm at the ready and pointed, fired three or four times. The man remained on his feet and doubled back east again in the direction of the first officer. Unaware that his magazine had become dislodged, the officer fired him, but nothing happened. The man ran past that officer and through the cooler’s exit doors, into the lobby area, and out the store’s exit doors onto a paved area in front of the sidewalk outside the business.

Realizing what had happened to his firearm, the officer reloaded his pistol with another magazine as he and the second officer followed him outside. Police told him to drop the knife, and he yelled back, “Kill me. Kill me.” The officer fired three times.

The man was felled by the volley of gunfire. He was approached by the officer and another officer arriving on the scene.  The officers handcuffed the Complainant and started performing CPR.

Paramedics arrived on scene and assumed care of him. He was transported to the hospital and declared deceased.

In his decision, the Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, says that “apprised of information of a male in possession of knives behaving erratically in public, the officers were duty bound to attend at the scene to do what they reasonably could to ensure public safety and protect life. I am satisfied that both subject officials fired their weapons to defend themselves from a reasonably apprehended attack.”