SIU investigating after one-year-old killed, officer injured in Kawartha Lakes

Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating the death of a baby boy and the shooting of his father on Thursday.

OPP officers were investigating an alleged abduction in the Kawartha Lakes area.

According to the Special Investigations Unit, officers located the vehicle believed to be carrying the pair.

When they tried to pull over the driver, he collided with an OPP cruiser and struck an officer who was outside the car. The officer was seriously injured. He is in hospital in stable condition.

Three officers shot at the 33-year-old man behind the wheel after an “interaction.”

“The man was struck and he was airlifted to hospital in grave condition,” said SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon.

“Inside the vehicle was the man’s son, a one-year-old boy, and he was fatally wounded.”

While the SIU will investigate the officers’ involvement in the incident, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said York Regional Police have been called in to handle other aspects of the investigation.

As a result of a tragic incident today, one child is dead and two others significantly injured. I ask that @SIUOntario and @YRP be given time to investigate, without speculation on the events as they unfolded. Our thoughts & prayers are with those that are suffering today. https://t.co/wIdB2mXWYr

— Thomas Carrique (@OPPCommissioner) November 26, 2020

This is the second incident in less than a week in which the SIU has been called in to investigate the death or injury of a provincial police officer.

Const. Marc Hovingh was shot and killed in the line of duty on Manitoulin Island last Friday while investigating an “unwanted man” on a property in Gore Bay, Ont.

The man, identified as Gary Brohman, was also shot and killed.

A GoFund Me page has been set up for the family of the 18-month old boy who died.