Family holds vigil for Ajax man killed by police

Family and friends of a man shot and killed by Durham police held a candlelight vigil Saturday night.

It’s been about a month since the death of Michael MacIsaac.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit says the 47-year-old was shot by police after they responded to a disturbance call on Unsworth Crescent, near Westney and Taunton roads, in Ajax just after 10 a.m. on Dec. 2.

Police said two women complained of being assaulted during a domestic dispute. When police arrived, the man fled naked from the home.

Officers confronted the man on nearby Dring Street.

“A confrontation ensued … and shortly thereafter the man was shot by an officer,” the SIU’s lead investigator Jon Ansell told reporters.

The SIU wouldn’t say how many times the man was shot or why.

“There are indications that he may have been (armed) but we don’t know that as yet,” Ansell added.

Those taking part in the vigil gathered outside 201 Williamson Dr. W.  at 6 p.m. and marched to the place where MacIsaac was shot. They say the purpose of the vigil is both to to mourn MacIsaac and to demand justice for his death at the hands of police.

“This should never have happened. My brother should be alive today, with us, not needlessly buried,” his sister, Joanne MacIsaac, said in a statement.

“Police need to stop shooting first, and asking questions later. We don’t know the exact details of what happened that morning but one thing is clear, Michael needed support not bullets.”

The family says MacIsaac suffered from epilepsy as a result of a childhood head injury — a condition that caused him to leave his home in a delirious state that day.

They are demanding that the SIU charge the officer who shot MacIssac, that mobile crisis units be established for every police force in the province, that all police officers in Ontario receive training in de-escalation techniques for crisis situations, and that province-wide protocols be established for officers to use those techniques before resorting to deadly force.

With files from The Canadian Press

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