TORONTO -- The province’s police watchdog has named a 45-year-old man who was shot dead by police in downtown Toronto during a missing person investigation, while a second person has been charged in connection to the case.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said that Toronto police were called to a building on George Street, north of Dundas Street East, at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, where they went to the third floor of building and confronted a 45-year-old man.
A source tells CP24 that heavily-armed emergency task force officers confronted the man and fired at him
The SIU says two officers fired at the man.
A man they identified as Gedi Ali Gedi was pronounced dead in hospital at 4:17 a.m., the SIU said.
Police said they were in the building as part of a missing person investigation when they learned of the possibility that someone inside may have had a gun.
SIU investigators said they collected two police-issue firearms from the scene, as well as two edged weapons, but no non-police issue firearms.
They also found “video evidence” which will be helpful to the investigation.
Toronto police said Tuesday that they were called to the scene as part of an investigation into a missing person.
Based on Tuesday’s encounter, they now say they have reason to believe a person they declined to identify “died under suspicious circumstance.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Toronto police said that investigators discovered the remains of a human body at a separate location.
They also said that they have arrested a 59-year-old man they identified as Orson York and charged him with one count of committing an indignity to a body.
They did not speak to any connection between the death of Gedi and the arrest of York, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.
York appeared in court at College Park courts via video link on Tuesday.
Police are asking anyone who may have been in the building or in the area between Friday and Sunday to contact investigators if they heard or saw anything suspicious.
