WARMINGTON: Peel cops fatally shoot 'high risk' offender at Pearson airport
Terminal 1 remains open but departing passengers must enter/exit through the arrivals area
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Two Peel Regional Police officers discharged their guns on an armed man with a history of violence and court prohibition of having a firearm after he pointed his pistol and charged at a cop at Pearson International Airport on Thursday morning.
The 30-year-old man, deemed a “high risk” offender who was “preparing to travel,” died in the shooting, which is believed to have seen at least eight bullets fired.
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Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Kristy Denette told reporters that while the man police shot and killed did “produce a handgun” he did not discharge it.
It all started around 7 a.m. over a disagreement about parking outside the door of Pearson Terminal One’s departure area where he was in and out of a vehicle that also contained his sister and her boyfriend.
It ended up as a police shooting after the man pulled a gun on an officer. The officers then did CPR on the man, who did not survive.
The SIU is now involved in the investigation.
“Unfortunately, today we did have a tragic incident,” Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah told media at the airport.
“What our officers engaged was a discussion with a group of individuals that were experiencing a dispute. Our officers spent an amount of time trying to resolve the dispute, an immense amount of de-escalation and engagement with the parties.”
Duraiappah said two of the three officers who responded to the dispute opened fire after the man pulled out a gun.
“As a result of that, to protect the community and the passengers here at the airport, two of the officers engaged with the individual,” Duraiappah said. “As a result, the subject was shot.”
He said officers and paramedics tried to save the man’s life.
“I can advise you that a man in his 30s has been pronounced dead (at the scene). He has been transported to a hospital. I’m absolutely grateful that our officers are uninjured.”
Many witnesses watched the female officer and a “young Caucasian man” interacting before things deteriorated. Two other officers were also involved.
“It began as a curbside disagreement over parking at the curbside,” said a Peel police source. “The guy had been there in his car and he had his sister with him.”
Pearson security had been trying to move him along.
It was not a short interaction — maybe about 10 minutes — with security and three police officers.
“They were all trying to deescalate it, calm him down and help him, but it escalated.”
Originally, “he had argued with airport security who called Peel police to respond,” said a source close to it. “The first officer who responded is an experienced officer and she tried to talk to the man and asked him to move his car.”
She was receiving the same push back. She deployed some of her mental health training.
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The man got out of his car “and said he was going to his trunk to get something,” when quickly he “returned with a gun and charged at the officer. She just reacted, pulled her gun and fired.”
The other officers backed her up.
Initially, they thought he pulled the gun from a bag which was in the back of a grey Jeep but now it’s believed he had the gun on him the whole time.
The officer was wearing a body-worn camera and there are many security cameras that cover the area. There were also many passengers and cars coming and going from the area.
“There will be a lot of video of this,” said a police source. “There will be no problem understanding what happened here once all of that has been reviewed.”
The officer is now facing an investigation from the SIU. But she and her peers are also being praised by fellow officers for potentially stopping something from becoming catastrophic.
“She did her job,” said one of her peers. “She is an experienced officer.”
She and the others are said to be holding up OK despite a experiencing something so traumatic — both facing a potential shooting and being involved in one.
“It’s not easy to have a gun pulled on you and they all could have easily been killed if he fired the pistol and struck them,” said a fellow officer. “It’s hard to know what could have happened after that, if he did.”
All avenues are open in the investigation. However, it’s not believed to be a planned incident.
“It’s not clear if this was orchestrated but looking more like a reactionary incident,” said a police source. “That said, it will all be investigated. He did have a gun, was at the airport for a period of time, so it will all be probed.”
As will his background, which includes a firearms ban and charges in a stabbing.
It’s unclear the motive behind having the gun at the airport or what his plans were.
“He seemed to be in crisis and was planning to travel,” said a source.
His sister was not hurt.
Nicole Verkindt was headed for a flight when the incident unfolded.
“I heard the shots and was 100 feet away — about eight straight shots outside of the U.S. entrance, then a rushing of police and ambulances to the scene, RCMP,” she told the Sun, adding people threw themselves on the ground at the sound of the gunshots.
Peel cops called it “an isolated incident” and added “there are no known threats to public safety.”
Police said to expect delays at Terminal 1. Travellers should contact their airline for flight statuses.
The airport said passengers departing from Terminal 1 are being rerouted to enter and exit through the arrivals level of the terminal.
Word of the incident began on X with people posting about a heavy police presence and officers with rifles out.
Terminal 1 is the main hub for Air Canada and services other airlines as well.
Highway 409 to Terminal 1 departures is closed due to the police investigation.
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