One dead after police respond to report of person with knife in ByWard Market area

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is probing the circumstances around the death of a man shot by police in the ByWard Market area on Sunday.

Officers responded to a 911 call about a person with a knife at about 2:10 p.m. in the area around Sussex Drive and St. Patrick Street, according to a police report early Sunday afternoon.

“During the response one person was shot. The individual was transported to hospital by paramedics,” police said.

The SIU, which stepped in on Sunday, said the Ottawa Police Service was made aware of a man in the area who was “in possession of an edged weapon.

“Officers made their way to the scene and located the man,” said the SIU, an independent civilian government agency that investigates the conduct of police officials in incidents that may have resulted in the death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm on a person.

“There was an interaction, and two officers discharged their firearms. The man was struck. He was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the agency said.

Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs said Monday he was unable to answer questions about the shooting after the SIU invoked its mandate as the lead investigator.

“I met with all four members that were involved in this incident, but one thing I cannot ask is, ‘What happened? What did you do?’

“I can’t taint them or have them talk to me about specifically what happened,” Stubbs said during a media briefing Monday afternoon.

Stubbs said the overall safety of the ByWard Market “is a key priority for us.”

“There are a number of initiatives that we are looking at to increase the safety and the confidence of the (public) and the business owners that this is a place to visit — day or night.”

Stubbs cited several initiatives, including a partnership with City Hall to develop community engagement teams and continuing to work with agencies and “to manage the vulnerable population… to get them on a positive path to getting help.”

Stubbs said a so-called OPS “storefront” in the Market — a “neighbourhood operation centre” — “is still something we are working on, to have more of a presence in the area.”

Three investigators and two forensic investigators with the SIU have been assigned to the case. Two “subject officers” and two “witness officials” have been designated in the investigation.

The SIU publicly reports the results of its investigations. Once a matter has been referred to the SIU, police will often no longer comment on the matter.

SIU investigators are civilians. Under provincial legislation, the director of the SIU must consider where a police official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation. Depending on the evidence, a criminal charge may be laid where grounds exist, or the file may be closed without any charges being laid.

Paramedics said they were dispatched to a call at about 2:30 p.m. and that a person had sustained a gunshot wound or wounds, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Sunday afternoon, police had run police tape to prevent pedestrians from walking down St. Patrick between Parent Street and Sussex Drive. An ambulance remained parked in front of 143 St. Patrick, a heritage stone building in the Notre Dame Cathedral compound known as the “archbishop’s palace.” A number of disposable blue gloves littered the street.

A man who lives on St. Patrick, who declined to be named, said he was inside when he heard two shots. At first, he thought it was fireworks.

Terrence Prendergast, the archbishop emeritus of Ottawa-Cornwall, was leaving the cathedral after 5 p.m. mass. He said he no longer lives in the “palace,” but has an office in the building. He was not there when the shooting happened, but as far as he knows, no one in any of the church buildings was threatened or endangered or has any connection to the incident.

“One of the priests heard gunshots. That’s all I heard.”

There was also police tape around part of a courtyard behind the Richard Robinson School of Design at the opposite corner of St. Patrick and Sussex, and around the entrance of the Earl of Sussex Pub.

As of Sunday at 5 p.m., a half dozen police vehicles were still at the scene, including a K-9 unit. There continued to be a police presence at the scene late Monday morning.

The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about the incident, including video or photos, to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529 or online at https://siu.on.ca/en/appeals.php.

With files from Aedan Helmer.