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Police officers carry the casket in during the start of a funeral for Toronto Police Constable Marc Pinizzotto in Toronto, on June 24.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
Ontario’s police watchdog says Toronto police had no choice but to fire at a suspect who shot and killed an officer during a raid in June.
The Special Investigations Unit released a report today that provides new details about the exchange of gunfire that killed Const. Marc Pinizzotto and left the 19-year-old suspect with multiple gunshot wounds.
SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote that Pinizzotto and another officer fired their weapons to defend themselves after the suspect fired his gun multiple times during the June 11 apartment raid.
Raid that left Toronto police officer dead tied to wider shooters-for-hire probe
Martino says there’s no doubt that the officers believed their lives were in danger and cleared police of any wrongdoing in the case.
Pinizzotto was fatally shot at a fourth-floor apartment building on Martha Eaton Way, as police carried out a raid in their investigation into multiple shootings, including one at the U.S. consulate in March.
Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Bennett, who was shot multiple times in the exchange of gunfire, was charged with first-degree murder in Pinizzotto’s death.