1-year-old boy dead, OPP officer injured in confrontation near Lindsay, Ont.
A one-year-old boy is dead and two people, including an Ontario Provincial Police officer, were seriously injured after a confrontation near Lindsay, Ont., on Thursday morning.
The incident occurred in the City of Kawartha Lakes in the area of Pigeon Lake Road, also known as Kawartha Lakes Road 17. The area is about 130 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson with Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said OPP officers were made aware that a father had abducted his son from the municipality of Trent Lakes.
Monica Hudon said officers located the vehicle of interest — a pickup truck — on Sturgeon Road and attempted to stop it. That's when the truck became involved in a collision with an OPP cruiser and another vehicle on Pigeon Lake Road.
An OPP officer who was reportedly standing outside his vehicle at the time was seriously injured in this collision.
In a confrontation with the 33-year-old driver, three officers shot at the man, who was hit and airlifted to hospital in serious condition.
Hudon said the man's one-year-old son was in the backseat of the vehicle. He died of a gunshot wound, but the SIU says it is unclear if that gunshot came from the three officers.
"It's too early for us to know why officers fired at the vehicle, and it's too early for us to know exactly what transpired," Hudon said.
In a news release, OPP said the driver of the vehicle was apprehended and taken to a Toronto area trauma centre.
Earlier on Thursday, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique tweeted that a suspect was in custody after an OPP officer was "seriously injured."
"An [OPP] officer has been seriously injured in an incident near Lindsay. A suspect has been apprehended and there are no concerns for public safety. Our thoughts and best wishes are with our officer, further information will follow," read a tweet by Carrique on Thursday morning.
Later, Carrique tweeted that the officer was in stable condition.
There is currently no threat to public safety, but drivers are being asked to avoid the area, OPP Sgt. Jason Folz said in a video tweet.
Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham said he's not able to comment on an ongoing investigation but that the incident has shaken his central Ontario municipality.
"The community is in disbelief that this is happening," he wrote in an email.
Kawartha Lakes police and York Regional Police will be assisting the OPP in their investigation.
The SIU investigates incidents involving police in which death, serious injury or sexual assault occurs.
