Police Won’t Be Charged Following Fatal Summer Shooting

Toronto police officers won’t be charged following a fatal summer shooting, the province’s Special Investigations Unit said Thursday.

Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas, 25, was killed on August 29, 2010.

That Sunday, officers had received reports of a man with a knife on board a TTC bus. They were waiting for the bus to arrive on Victoria Park Avenue at Biscayne Boulevard around 3pm. When Jardine-Douglas got off the bus, there was a confrontation with police that ended with gunfire.

The SIU found that a police officer boarded the front of the bus and spoke with Jardine-Douglas, who was standing at the back door.

According to the SIU, Jardine-Douglas then pulled out a knife. He was told to drop it, but didn’t, instead walking towards the officer. The officer backed out of the bus and Jardine-Douglas followed, still holding the knife.

Once they were off the bus, the officer fired four shots at Jardine-Douglas, two of    which struck him.

Jardine-Douglas was pronounced dead at Sunnybrook Hospital just after 4pm.

The officer had retreated “until he was backed up against a hedge,” SIU director Ian Scott said.

“He fired three rounds at Jardine-Douglas, causing him to falter and fall down. The officer clearly had a reasonable belief that he was in imminent risk of grievous bodily harm or death at this point. The final fatal round was discharged when the decedent was attempting to rise,” Scott continued.

Jardine-Douglas was suffering from mental health issues as well as emotional distress in the days leading up to the shooting, his family said at the time.

“The dispatcher was told on more than one occasion of Reyal’s mental health condition,” the family said in a statement to the Coroner.

“He was not exhibiting any violent behaviours at the time.”