Police officer, robbery suspect shot at Aurora plaza

The province’s police watchdog is investigating after an attempted robbery suspect was apparently shot in the head and an officer was shot in the wrist at an Aurora plaza Thursday night.

The Special Investigations Unit is probing the incident that happened around 8:30 p.m.

According to police the suspects attempted to rob a Bell Store in a shopping complex on 1st Commerce Dr., near Highway 404 and Aurora Road.

They fled the store and were confronted by police in the parking lot in front of a Rona store. 

One of three suspects was apparently shot in the head during an exchange after police arrived at the scene. He was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital.  There have been no updates on his condition.

Two other suspects were arrested at the scene.

Witness Don Wauchop says he saw one of the men brandishing a gun.

“I saw him with two hands holding his gun walking past the window.  He said ‘freeze get your hands in the air.'”

Both the 40-year-old officer and the wounded suspect remain in hospital. The shooting comes less than a month after Const. Garrett Styles was killed in the line of duty.

The officer injured Thursday has been with the force for at least 10 years.

“(He) is recovering in hospital now after surgery and we hope that the injuries he sustained from the gunshot wound is not going to be something that’s going to affect him in his career,” said Insp. Angelo De Lorenzi.

Business owners in the plaza say they’ve been targeted numerous times in the past because their close proximity to the highway gives criminals an easy escape route.

With files from The Canadian Press.

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