As bullets flew towards police, two Toronto officers who fired their guns during a fateful raid on a Black Creek apartment in June had no alternative but to shoot back, Ontario’s police watchdog has found, attempting to “protect themselves from grievous bodily harm and death.
asserted
watchdog → fly → harm
A report released Friday afternoon by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) revealed new details about the chaotic moments before Pinizzotto, a member of the Emergency Task Force, was fatally shot in an early morning shoot-out with a suspect in a gun-for-hire network.
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Pinizzotto → release → network
The report also cleared Pinizzotto and a fellow ETF officer of any wrongdoing stemming from the June 11 incident, which left the suspect, Nicholas Bennett, with multiple gunshot wounds and in critical condition.
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which → clear → condition
“There can be no doubt that the officers believed their lives to be in danger and that they acted to protect themselves from grievous bodily harm and death,” SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his report.
”
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Martino → believe → report
(Bennett’s) use of a gun against the officers left them with no alternative but to try to defend themselves with a resort to lethal force of their own.
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use → leave → own
Put simply, nothing short of a firearm had the stopping power required of the moment.
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nothing → Put → moment
Pinizzotto was shot and killed as his Emergency Task Force team executed a raid on the suspect in a gun-for-hire network investigators believed to be connected to shootings at the U.S. consulate, at the homes of executives at waste management company GFL Environmental and to the ongoing GTA tow truck wars.
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investigators → shoot → wars
Bennett, 19, was charged with first-degree murder in Pinizzotto’s death.
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Bennett → charge → death
The teen was shot multiple times at his Black Creek apartment but survived.
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teen → shoot → apartment
The SIU is mandated to investigate all cases where a member of the public is seriously injured or killed involving police.
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member → mandate → police
Bennett was taken to hospital in critical condition and was unconscious and intubated for a week before he awoke and acknowledged a justice of the peace with a thumbs up via Zoom while lying flat on his back in a hospital bed.
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he → take → bed
He is next scheduled to appear in court in November.
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He → schedule → November
None of the gun-for-hire or murder allegations against him have been tested in court.
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None → test → court
According to Martino's detailed report, Bennett fired at officers shortly after they entered his apartment, shooting three times.
uncertain
they → accord → times
Pinizzotto reacted "immediately," the report said, firing off four rounds from his C8 rifle "before collapsing onto his back in the hallway."
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report → react → hallway
Another ETF officer, who is not named in the report, was just behind Pinizzotto when shots rang out.
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shots → name → Pinizzotto
The report states that he then fired his own C8 rifle nine times.
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he → state → rifle
Then, after a brief pause, he fired five more times at Bennett.
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he → fire → Bennett
Bennett is not charged in the March 20 shooting targeting the U.S. consulate, but is alleged to have been in possession of a .45 calibre gun police say was involved in the shooting.
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police → charge → shooting
It was seized during his arrest.
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It → seize → arrest
The funeral for Pinizzotto, 43, an 18-year veteran of the force, drew thousands of mourners this summer as police chief Myron Demkiw eulogized him as someone who “represented excellence” during his time with the elite tactical squad often called to the kind of high-risk takedowns that cost him his life.
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that → draw → life
“People understand that an attack on a police officer is an attack on all of us as a society, on our values, on our way of life,” Demkiw said at the Toronto Congress Centre.
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Demkiw → understand → Centre
The Aporia
