British Columbia

Police watchdog launches probe after missing Vancouver man dies of gunshot wound in Ontario

Ontario's police watchdog says it's investigating the death of a 24-year-old Vancouver man in northwestern Ontario.

Nazariy Geletiy was found in a wooded area near Machin, Ont.

A sign of the Special Investigations Unit.
The Special Investigations Unit investigates all incidents involving Ontario police in which someone is killed, injured or accused of sexual assault. (Yvon Theriault/CBC)

Ontario's police watchdog says it's investigating the death of a 24-year-old Vancouver man in northwestern Ontario.

The Special Investigations Unit says provincial police began a missing person's investigation on Sept. 12 after finding an abandoned car parked by tracks near Dryden, Ont.

The car was traced to a man the OPP eventually identified as Nazariy Geletiy of Vancouver.

The SIU says officers found Geletiy in a wooded area near Machin, Ont, on Saturday, at which point an interaction took place and he sustained a gunshot wound. 

The SIU said in a written statement that Geletiy was in possession of a firearm. He was taken by OPP helicopter to a hospital in Dryden, and then transferred to a hospital in Thunder Bay, where he died.

The statement said "at this time, investigators do not believe any officer discharged a firearm during the interaction."

The SIU investigates all incidents involving police in which someone is killed, injured or accused of sexual assault.