There will be no charges against Windsor police after a fatal downtown shooting, the Special Investigations Unit has determined.
Director of the Special Investigations Unit Tony Loparco has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against any Windsor officer related to the shooting death of a 33-year-old man during an interaction with police on March 21, 2018.
The SIU has determined the actions of police in firing upon man were justified.
The man was shot and killed during a confrontation with police in the alley between the Shoppers Drug Mart and McDonald's restaurant near Goyeau Street and Tuscarora Street.
CTV News first confirmed the identity of the victim was Matt Mahoney.
The SIU report says police had initially been called for a man carrying a butcher block of knives, outside of Starbucks on Ouellette and Wyandotte. Officers later located the man in an alley near McDonald’s at Wyandotte and Goyeau where a confrontation took place.
According to the report, the man ignored requests from police to drop his weapon and Mahoney slashed an officer’s hand with a knife and two officers fired their tasers and then their guns ten times.
Mahoney sustained seven gunshot wounds and died in hospital.
The SIU report says "despite the tragic loss of life, the officers fell within the limits prescribed by the criminal law and there are no grounds for proceeding with criminal charges in this case."
“Unfortunately, the report didn’t have any type of closure in it for us,” says Michael Mahoney, Matt’s older brother, in an interview with CTV Windsor.
Michael Mahoney says his brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental health issues.
He is now calling for another investigation.
“We need to have a coroner’s inquest now because the SIU report only looks at the last 15 seconds of my brother’s life,” says Mahoney.
He also hopes the case sheds more light on issues around mental health.
“It’s been going on for years, and this isn’t the first time and it will not be the last time,” adds Mahoney.
The provincial agency says two subject officers and eight witness officers have been designated as part of the investigation.
A few people spoke to CTV News in the apartment building where Mahoney lived at the corner of Erie and Dougall. They said he was riding a tough stretch in his life.
Mahoney's Facebook page has been memorialized. https://www.facebook.com/BrainPain
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
