The Special Investigations Unit has announced it found no grounds to lay charges against the police involved in the shooting death of a Collingwood man last year.
Matthew Rice, 29, died shortly after 1 p.m. on Sept. 9, 2020 outside of his home on the corner of Third and Beech Street after being shot by police.
Police were called to the home for a report of a man in distress who had barricaded himself inside the residence.
According to police reports and the SIU, Rice came out of the house carrying a shotgun, and was told to drop it. The SIU report states police used an energy weapon first but missed.
The SIU reported the man made an obscene gesture at the police officer and cursed.
"The man pointed the shotgun in the officer's direction before the officer discharged his firearm at the man, the officer discharged 11 rounds, eight of which struck the man," states the SIU report released today. "The man was on his feet with a shotgun in hand until the final shot was discharged."
The director of the SIU, Joseph Martino, concluded the police acted to "thwart the threat of imminent death to himself and others," and thus committed no criminal offence.
The SIU is an independent government agency charged with investigating any incident involving police that resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault, and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
According to the report, which was published Sept. 7, 2021 on the SIU website, the investigation involved interviewing 21 civilian witnesses, and 10 witness officers. An eleventh officer also provided notes.
The SIU recovered a Cooey Model 84 shotgun and a single viable shotgun shell from the scene. Testing confirmed the gun was functioning correctly as a break-open single shot, but the gun was not loaded when it was collected by the SIU.
The police officer who shot Rice fired from a C8 rifle.
Based on the information collected by the SIU, police were called to the house on Third and Beech Streets on Sept. 8, 2020 for a domestic dispute. Police suggested Rice should stay somewhere else that night, and witnesses indicate he did.
The next day, one of the people involved in the domestic dispute called police again, this time to report a concern that Rice was suicidal. Some reports from witnesses at the scene indicated Rice barricaded himself in a room with a gun that did not work, but witnesses also told police on scene the gun was loaded, according to the SIU report.
