Windsor police have been cleared of any wrongdoing stemming from a fatal shooting in downtown Windsor almost a year ago.
On March 21, 2018, around 8am, there was a confrontation between police and a man who was identified as 33-year-old Matthew Mahoney.
Mahoney's brother Michael Mahoney indicated his brother had been suffering from mental health issues for years.
Police had initially been called for a man carrying a butcher block of knives, outside of the Starbucks on Ouellette and University, who was making people uncomfortable.
According to the Special Investigations Unit report, when officers located him, Matthew Mahoney began slashing at an officer, cutting the officer's hand. Police used their tasers on the man, which didn't stop him, so police fired their guns.
Mahoney was struck multiple times and died in the Dufferin Ave. alley behind the McDonalds.
A post mortem examination done at London Health Sciences Centre on March 22, 2018 revealed seven gunshot wounds.
Investigators with the SIU formally interviewed 18 civilian witnesses.
Michael Mahoney (left) with his mother and brother, Matthew (Photo courtesy of Michael Mahoney)
"My brother is still gone and he shouldn't be," says Mahoney's brother Michael Mahoney. "If he was receiving proper care, he would have been on his medicine and would have been of sound mind that morning. He would have just had an altercation with police."
Mahoney says he is not surprised by the findings as the family never thought that police acted maliciously.
"We have no idea what my brother was thinking that morning or what was going through his head. If his behaviour was consistent with the previous 15-20 years since he had been battling his disease, then he would have felt very scared and cornered and out of options that morning."
The SIU found the witnesses indicated the officers had repeatedly instructed Mahoney to drop his weapon, 'which appeared to have fallen on deaf ears.'
Given the evidence and witness statements, the SIU concluded the shots that were fired by the officers, which struck and killed Mahoney, 'were justified'.
The two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries.