Police officers' conduct threatened credibility of SIU probe into Andrew Loku death: report

Nearly a year after Andrew Loku was killed by a Toronto police officer, the province's Special Investigation Unit says the 45-year-old's shooting death was "legally justified," but says the conduct of another officer who tried to access video of the incident after the shooting "threatened to publicly compromise the investigation."

The provincial police watchdog released just 10 of 34 pages of a long-awaited and once-secret report into Loku's death Friday. 

The report does not name the police officer who shot Loku, something the Black Lives Matter activist group has been calling for since Loku's death.

"This changes nothing," Yusra Khogali, the cofounder of the group, told CBC News on Friday.

"It's an absolute injustice and shame that they think that by releasing this report that we will feel as if this is a victory or that anything has been achieved here," Khogali said.

Loku, a South Sudanese father of five, died at an apartment complex near Rogers Road and Caledonia Road on July 5th, 2015 after police say he refused to comply with demands to drop a hammer and threatened to kill a friend of a guest in the apartment, a building subsidized by the Canadian Mental Health Association."

The SIU is a civilian agency that reviews all cases of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving police in Ontario.

The agency cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing, but said in the report that their conduct after the shooting "threatened to publicly compromise the investigation" — an idea a police spokesperson rejected after the report's release.

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​"There has been much media and public attention given to the fact that Mr. Loku had mental health issues (and lived in CMHA subsidized housing) and was, as such, not properly dealt with by the police," the report prepared by SIU director Tony Loparco states.

This changes nothing.- Black Lives Matter Toronto cofounder Yusra Khogali

"I can only say that on the record before me that there was no more evidence that the police were aware of the fact that Mr. Loku had any mental health issues or that they were going to a building that had numerous tenants with mental health problems."

'Detracts from community confidence'

The report acknowledges that residents at the building and members of the CMHA raised concerns following Loku's death about "gaps" in video footage of his shooting.

"Following the shooting, a non-witness officer saw fit to attempt to review and download the video recordings captured by cameras situated on the [redacted] floor hallway where the shooting occurred," the report states. "I have not as yet heard an adequate explanation for the officer's conduct."

"This case is a classic example of how conduct of the type in question detracts from community confidence," Loparco writes in the report before concluding that "the camera had simply not recorded the shooting."

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash told CBC News on Friday that he strongly disagrees with the criticism of the conduct of the officers following the shooting.

"We deal with the SIU probably more than anyone else in the province. I should also point out that there were a number of SIU officials there that night who raised no objections to what the police officers had done," Pugash said.

Fifteen civilian witnesses are listed in the report along with nine officers — all anonymous.

No criminal charges

The provincial police watchdog already announced in a release last month that the officer would not face any criminal charges.

Last month's release stated the officer who would eventually shoot Loku and a second officer entered the building and confronted Loku with guns drawn in a third-floor hallway.

The officers were eight to nine metres away from Loku when they ordered him to drop the hammer, the report stated. Instead of complying, officers said he began walking in their direction.

According to a release last month, Loku reportedly said, "What you gonna do? Come on, shoot me."

The report released today also adds that Loku had a blood alcohol level of 247 mg/100 ml of blood at the time of his death.

Loku's death set off a firestorm of controversy, prompting Toronto's Black Lives Matter coalition to call for charges to be laid against the officers involved in the shooting. The group also wanted the officers involved be identified and video footage of the incident to be made public.

'We have a right to know'

Khogali also raised concerns about the timing of the shots, fired just seconds after officers arrived on scene, according to the SIU report.

"How are you supposed to determine if someone is a threat... within seconds?"

Black Lives Matter Toronto will continue to demand the release of video footage of the shooting and for the name of the officer who shot Loku to be released.

"We have a right to know this," Khogali said.

On Friday, NDP deputy leader Jagmeet Singh criticized Premier Kathleen Wynne who, earlier this week, committed to releasing the SIU's report within the next few days.

"The Liberal government has given the public access to only 10 censored pages, which raises more questions than answers," Singh said in a statement released to reporters.

Ontario's SIU is an independent civilian law enforcement agency that investigates cases of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving police. SIU probes also limit what Toronto police can say about the incident.