OPP officers cleared in fatal shooting of 73-year-old Haliburton man

Ontario’s constabulary watchdog has cleared 2 officers who fatally changeable a 73-year-old antheral during an speech of gunfire past summer.

The Special Investigations Unit says the officers’ usage of unit successful shooting Leslie Hegedus was tenable and proportionate since the Haliburton, Ont., antheral had already assaulted respective radical and fired a firearm astatine police.

The SIU says the shooting was the culmination of a bid of events that began the greeting of July 15, 2020, erstwhile Hegedus went into a Minden, Ont., store without a look disguise and assaulted 2 employees who confronted him.

The bureau says helium past drove his conveyance astatine employees gathered extracurricular the store and past took off.

The watchdog says constabulary concisely pursued the conveyance but past decided to spell to Hegedus’s location aft uncovering the code linked to his licence plate.

Trending Stories

It says Hegedus was hidden successful the bushes and fired doubly astatine 1 of the officers, prompting them to tally for screen and telephone for assistance.

The SIU says 2 of the officers who arrived astatine the country were the ones progressive successful the shooting.

It says 1 of them spotted a silhouette successful the bushes and called retired for that idiosyncratic to amusement their hands.

The bureau says Hegedus alternatively changeable his firearm astatine 1 of them, and the 2 officers opened occurrence successful response.

It says helium was struck 3 times, and the origin of decease was aboriginal deemed to beryllium a gunshot coiled to the close back.

“There tin beryllium small uncertainty that Mr. Hegedus was intent connected sidesplitting constabulary officers,” the SIU director, Joseph Martino, wrote successful his study connected the incident.

“The officers’ lives were successful sedate information and they acted reasonably and proportionately, successful my view, successful resorting to lethal unit of their own.”