A man has died after being shot by Peel police at Toronto Pearson’s Terminal 1 Thursday morning.
The shooting happened shortly before 7 a.m. after police received a call from a member of the public about a dispute involving two or three people, Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said. The group knew each other and was there “for the purposes of travel,” he said.
Three officers responded to the call. Police had been attempting to mediate the dispute for around 10 minutes when the man abruptly took out a firearm, he said.
Two of the officers fired at the man, Duraiappah said. The man, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene, the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said in a news release Thursday.
The man was “in distress” and had been in an SUV at Terminal 1 departures, but the shooting happened outside the vehicle, the SIU said.
No police officers were injured, the SIU said.
The shooting “is an isolated incident and there are no known threats to public safety,” Peel police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Travellers at Pearson have been left scrambling after a police-involved shooting snarled operations at the Toronto airport. CBC’s Clara Pasieka has the latest on the investigation.
Peel paramedics responded to the scene around 6:56 a.m., a spokesperson confirmed.
Duraiappah called the shooting a “tragic incident” and said it was not an attack on the airport.
“There was nothing that was compromising the airport operations,” he said.
Police have body camera footage of the incident and are cooperating fully with the SIU’s investigation, he said.
Duraiappah said there is a large police presence on scene, along with SIU investigators.
Witness saw man bleeding, officer performing CPR
Danilo Simic told CBC News he had just dropped off a friend at the airport and was planning his route home to Hamilton when he heard 10 or more loud bangs.
“Right away I thought, this can’t be a car’s loud exhaust. This is something different, something that I haven’t heard before,” he said.
A man who was at Toronto’s Pearson airport at the time of a police-involved shooting Thursday recounts hearing multiple gunshots before seeing police performing CPR on an injured man.
Simic said he ducked in his car, assuming the noises were gunshots. Everyone around him “came to a standstill,” he said.
Two police cruisers soon sped past him, he said.
As Simic drove away, he saw a man lying on the ground bleeding from his torso and his head. An officer was giving the man CPR, he said.
Police were also holding back a woman from the scene, Simic said.
Another witness, Jake Seymour, said he was outside on the airport’s lower level when the shooting happened.
He said he heard multiple shots, then went to the top floor to see if he could offer first aid. First responders were already there, he said in a direct message to CBC Toronto.
Seymour said exits in the area remain blocked off. The scene that’s taped off wasn’t on the roadway where passengers immediately exit the airport, but rather the secondary roadway that’s closer to the airport’s parking garage, he said.
Grey SUV on scene with several evidence markers
Images from the scene show a heavy police presence with several Peel Regional Police vehicles parked outside the massive three-level terminal building that’s the hub of Air Canada’s operations and most major international flights.
CBC News crews spotted at least a dozen police cars en route to the departures area of Terminal 1.
One image from the scene shows a grey Jeep Cherokee in a section of the road that’s been cornered off with police tape. There are several white evidence markers on the ground behind the vehicle, which has its trunk open.
The SIU confirmed this was the vehicle involved in the shooting.
A number of passengers were seen wheeling their suitcases between police cruisers with their lights flashing while making their way into Terminal 1.
It is unclear whether flights have been affected, but police said passengers can expect delays at the terminal.
Security wait times at all terminals remain within the normal range, with waits of up to 5 minutes expected, according to the Pearson airport website.
Roads closed, routes affected near airport
Pearson airport said flights are continuing to operate normally on Thursday despite the police investigation.
People are asked to use the roadway to Terminal 1 arrivals, as the road to Terminal 1 departures remains closed, the airport said in a post on X. The parking garage in Terminal 1 is open.
Passengers can also park at Terminal 3 and the Viscount Station Kiss and Fly lot and take the train to Terminal 1, the airport said.
Highway 409 to Terminal 1 departures is closed due to a police investigation, Ontario Provincial Police said in a post on X.
The 900 Airport Express bus is detouring via Terminal 3 due to police activity, the Toronto Transit Commission said.
Service on the UP Express appears to be unaffected at this time.
Ontario SIU investigators are heading to the scene, spokesperson Kristy Denette said in an email.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in incidents across Ontario that may have resulted in death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm or allegations of sexual assault.
