A woman and two young children have been taken to hospital following a violent incident at a home in Mississauga’s Erin Mills neighbourhood on Monday morning that is now being partially probed by Ontario’s police watchdog.
Police were initially dispatched to a townhouse complex on Southhampton Drive near Eglinton Avenue at around 10 a.m. after receiving a 911 call.
They say that an adult female was found outside the residence with obvious signs of trauma and was taken to a trauma centre in life-threatening condition. Two children were also taken to hospital. Police say that one of those children, an 11-year-old boy, was initially transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries but was subsequently moved to a trauma centre in serious but stable condition. The second child, a two-year-old, did not sustain any physical injuries but was transported as a precaution.
Meanwhile, a 47-year-old man was taken into custody at the scene.
Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Kristy Denette told reporters on Monday afternoon that the suspect was naked and armed with a knife and a hammer during an interaction with police that culminated with the discharge of a firearm by a single officer.
The man was not struck by the bullet but was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
That nature of those injuries are not immediately clear.
“The focus of the SIU investigation really is on the discharge of a firearm and the injury of the man. As far as the other elements (of what transpired), that would be the Peel Regional Police who would be conducting a parallel investigation into those circumstances,” Denette told reporters.
Neighbour heard screaming
So far police have not released any details about what transpired inside the home.
However, a neighbour who spoke with CTV News Toronto off camera said that he was outside at around 10 a.m. when a child approached him begging for help. He said that he immediately went to the house, at which point he witnessed a man assaulting a woman in the garage.
The neighbour also said that the child who came to him for help had cuts to his arm and back.
Another neighbour, who spoke with CP24, also described a chaotic scene on Monday morning with audible screams for help coming from the property.
“I came home after my wife called me because they heard some screaming ‘Please no, please no.’ They also saw some police officers pulling out their guns so they were very scared,” the neighbour said.
Speaking with CP24 earlier in the day, Peel Regional Police Const. Heather Cannon said that the initial call was classified as “weapons dangerous.”
But Cannon said that she could not elaborate on the nature of injuries sustained by the adult woman due to the involvement of the SIU.
She also refused to comment on the relationship between the victims and the suspect.
“At this point I'm unable to speak to the actual relationship,” she said. “The only thing that I can say is that investigators have spoken to me and say there is no concern for public safety at this point.”
Cannon said that police currently have a significant presence in the area, with plans to conduct a door-to-door canvass for witnesses and surveillance camera footage as part of the investigation.
Footage from the scene on Monday morning showed police tape restricting access to a garage at the back of a townhouse complex. Blood was also visible on the pavement outside.
The SIU says that they have assigned three investigators and one forensic investigator to the case.
“There were a number of officers who responded and the SIU is just determining whereabouts the officers were and whereabouts that bullet was discharged,” Denette said of the investigation.
The SIU automatically invokes its mandate whenever police discharge their firearms during an interaction with the member of the public.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Sean Leathong
