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August 15, 2022 • 50 minutes ago • Read 3 minutes • Join the conversation Windsor police and EMS paramedics treat a man suffering from a gunshot wound after police shot him while threatening people with a machete on Wyandotte Street West at Ouellette Avenue on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer/Windsor Star
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Windsor police shot a 70-year-old man Monday in a violent standoff that began with officers responding to calls about someone attacking moving vehicles with a machete.
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It happened shortly after 2pm at the intersection of Ouellette Avenue and Wyandotte Street. The man was in critical condition Monday night.
“For a period of four or five minutes, this guy was right in the middle of the intersection blocking all four lanes,” said Wayne Craig, who called 911. “Then he was yelling and screaming, ‘this is my intersection, this is my f. -ing intersection,” waving the knife. He took each direction at different times during the four or five minutes. He would go after a vehicle with the knife or the sword or whatever, cutting people and they would swerve.”
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), an independent government agency that investigates death, sexual assault or serious injury with police, has taken over the case. Six investigators, including three forensic specialists, are investigating what happened.
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The SIU said Windsor police officers were called to the intersection around 2:30 p.m. by a man “wielding a machete and threatening people.”
“There was an interaction between the man and the officers during which one officer deployed a conducted energy weapon and another officer shot the man,” the SIU said in a news release.
A Windsor police officer taps the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue after a man was shot by police after brandishing a machete at people, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer / Windsor Star
Paramedics took the man to the hospital.
Windsor police maintained the scene for hours, interviewing potential witnesses and waiting for SIU investigators to arrive.
Officers used vehicles and yellow crime scene tape to shut down Ouellette and Wyandotte in all four directions within a block of the intersection.
A bullet casing and a machete were in Wyandotte, just west of the intersection, next to evidence markers.
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Two Windsor police bicycles were propped up on stands next to the sidewalk.
Windsor police also confirmed on Twitter shortly before 3 p.m. that an officer had shot a man after responding to a report of a person with a gun.
Windsor police are investigating after a man was shot by police while wielding a machete at people at the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer/Windsor Star
The man, who was wearing a surgical mask over his face and a bright orange safety shirt with silver and gray reflective stripes, was swinging the machete at vehicles in the middle of city center traffic.
Two officers on bicycles were the first to arrive, according to witnesses.
Craig said he lost sight of the man behind a truck that had stopped. But it appeared the person was striking the vehicle with the knife, he said.
That’s when Craig heard an “amazing thump.”
“I couldn’t see with the white truck there if the police were coming,” he said.
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Other bystanders said the man charged at the officers. They yelled at him to drop the gun before trying to subdue him with a taser.
“The police warned him, but he didn’t stop,” said Raj Bhalodwala, who stumbled upon the scene after leaving a nearby business. “That’s why they shot him with the stun gun. He was so angry. The guy was very angry.”
Windsor police are investigating after a man was shot by police while wielding a machete at people at the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer/Windsor Star
Kevin Burton said he watched from a city bus as the man advanced toward officers with a large gun before suddenly falling to the pavement.
“I just saw somebody being agitated, heading towards the police, then everything happened,” he said after giving a statement to a Windsor police officer.
After the shooting, the officers rushed to restrain the man, who was lying on his back with the machete a few meters away.
Roger Baz was working in the parking garage at the corner of Wyandotte and Pelissier when he heard screams around the corner. He ran to check it out.
“Then all of a sudden I heard a crack, like a gunshot,” Baz said. “Then within a minute, there were like 10 police cars. I couldn’t believe how fast they got here.”
The SIU urges anyone with information about the shooting, including videos or photos, to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. Witnesses can also submit a statement online through the SIU website.
The scene at Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue where a Windsor police officer shot a suspect during a gun call is seen Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer/Windsor Star The scene of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue where a Windsor police officer shot a suspect during a gun call on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer/Windsor Star
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A Windsor police officer stands next to a machete that a man wielded at people before he was shot by a Windsor police officer at the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue on Monday, 15 Aug. 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer /Windsor Star A A bullet casing lies in the road after a Windsor police officer shot a man with a machete at the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue, on Monday, August 15, 2022. Photo by Dax Melmer / Windsor Star
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