No charges warranted against officer who fatally shot man in Markham, police watchdog says
Ontario's police watchdog has decided no charges are warranted against a York Regional Police officer in the shooting death of 35-year-old man in a Markham shopping plaza parking lot almost a year ago.
In a report released on Wednesday night, Joseph Martino, director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said he has found "no reasonable grounds" to believe that the officer committed a crime when he shot and killed Moses Erhirhie on Jan. 21, 2022. The shooting happened east of Fairburn Drive and south of Highway 7.
The report says the officer fired up to three times at Erhirhie, who was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was determined to be gunshot wounds to the torso.
The SIU says the officer declined to be interviewed and did not authorize the release of his notes.
"There is much about this incident that remains unknown," the report says.
"In the final analysis, given the speed with which events unfolded and the volatility of the situation, I am unable to reasonably conclude that the [officer] acted without justification for deciding in the heat of the moment to meet a threat of grievous bodily harm or death with a resort to lethal force of his own," it adds.
"While it is a tragedy that the complainant lost his life," Martino writes, "there is no basis for moving forward with criminal charges in this case."
In its initial news release on Jan. 22, 2022, the SIU said a York Regional police officer on patrol "came upon" a man outside a vehicle in the shopping plaza parking lot at about 9:15 p.m.. "There was an interaction and the man was shot," the release said.
The SIU said the man was taken to hospital, where he died, while a woman in the vehicle was arrested by officers in connection with firearms offences. She was not injured.
Erhirhie family had questions about shooting
After the shooting, Erhirhie's family spoke out, questioning why he was fatally shot. They said they wondered if the incident would have unfolded differently if Erhirhie had not been Black.
"I think automatically when you're a person of colour and you have an interaction with police ... they have a preconceived notion about you," Edith Erhirhie, his sister, told CBC Toronto at the time.
The report says evidence the SIU gathered suggests Erhirhie drove into the lot in a white Hyundai Elantra with a female in the front seat at about 9:15 p.m.. He stopped in front of a snow bank. He got out of the car and appeared to urinate. A marked police car came into the parking lot and stopped near the car.
Erhirhie walked to the driver's side of the police vehicle and talked to the officer, the report says. Then he tried to open the door.
"The two grappled with one another for several seconds," the report says.
Then, the report says, Erhirhie broke free and ran away, with the officer chasing him. He doubled back to the Elantra. The officer tried to remove Erhirhie from the car, which reversed slowly, then accelerated onto the snowbank.The female got out of the car and the driver's side door was still open.
"During this period ... the [officer] extricated himself from the driver compartment of the Hyundai and discharged his firearm once, and, likely, up to three times at the complainant," the report contiinues.
"It appeared the complainant was attempting to exit the Hyundai via the open front passenger door when he was struck by one or more of the gunshots and collapsed."
The report says the officer went over to the passenger side of the vehicle and aimed his gun at the car for nearly two minutes until other officers arrived. The officers performed CPR before Erhirhie was taken to hospital.
The report says a gun was located in a satchel Erhirhie wore around his chest.
