‘IT’S SO SAD’: Two South Simcoe Police officers killed in Innisfil shooting
Innisfil #Innisfil
Two South Simcoe police officers were gunned down while responding to a domestic disturbance at a home in Innisfil Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old shooter was also killed in the shootout.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit is probing the incident and say officers were called to the residence on Somers Blvd., near 25th Sideroad and Ninth Line, around 8 p.m. for “a disturbance.”
“Inside the residence, there was an exchange of gunfire between the man and officers,” the SIU said in a statement Wednesday. “The man was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
“Two officers were taken to hospital where they died,” said the SIU, who investigate any incident involving serious injury or death of a person interacting with police.
The quiet street was cordoned off with yellow police tape Wednesday as the SIU and York Regional Police, who are investigating the shooting of the South Simcoe officers – the third and fourth Ontario cops killed in the last month – worked the scene.
Area residents were in disbelief.
Lynn Gerow, who has lived on the street for four or five years, heard the shots ring out Tuesday night from her home.
“It sounded like a bomb went off, but I guess it was gunshots,” she said. “It’s just not something you hear every day.
“And then the street was just full of police. It’s unbelievable,” Gerow added.
She said an elderly couple live in the house where the deadly shootout occurred.
“We know them, they’re a lovely couple,” Gerow said.
A source told the Toronto Sun the couple’s grandson was waiting behind a door and ambushed the officers with an assault rifle.
“There’s no way it was them, so I think it had to be something to do with the grandson,” Gerow said. “It’s so sad about the two police officers — just terrible.”
Gerow is unaware of any previous trouble at the house.
“It’s too close to home, that’s for sure,” she said. “It’s just awful.”
There have now been four cops killed in and around the Greater Toronto Area in recent weeks.
Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong, 48, was executed by a gunman while on duty at a Tim Hortons in Mississauga on Sept. 12 and the shooter — Sean Petrie, 40 – left two others dead and two wounded in his rampage before he was shot to death by cops in Hamilton.
Two days later, off-duty York Regional Police Const. Travis Gillespie was killed in a head-on collision while on his way to work.
The other driver — Haoju Zhou, 23, was charged with impaired operation causing death and dangerous operation causing death.
The SIU has assigned six investigators and three forensic investigators to the case of the 23-year-old man killed.
Anyone with information, including video or photos, is urged to call the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529.
South Simcoe Police Chief John Van Dyke will read a prepared statement at 1 p.m. at the Innisfil Town Hall. The SIU is also scheduled to speak.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement Wednesday he was “heartbroken” to learn two officers were killed in the line of duty.
“We are praying for the officers’ families and all the police officers who put their lives on the line to protect our communities,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also sent his condolences.
“My thoughts are also with the loved ones of these officers and the entire Innisfil community,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police said it was devastated as it mourns the loss of the two officers. “Our sorrow deepens,” the association tweeted.
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