SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT
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In accordance with the Special Investigations Unit’s name release policy which requires consent from next of kin, the Unit is now able to identify 27-year-old Martin Gordyn of the Niagara Region as the man who was fatally shot yesterday during an interaction with police officers in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
SIU investigators remain in the area. The scene is being processed and interviews are underway. At this time, one Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) officer has been designated as a subject officer. In addition, 23 officers with NRPS, three officers with Niagara Parks Police and five officers with the Ontario Provincial Police have been designated as witness officers.
The post-mortem is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
The interaction occurred near a trail, and the SIU believes there were a pair of bicyclists who witnessed that interaction. The Unit is urging those individuals – as well as anyone else who may have information – to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. The Unit is also urging anyone who may have any video evidence related to this incident to upload that video through the SIU website.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations
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