Toronto police had “no alternative” but to fire at a man accused of fatally shooting Const. Marc Pinizzotto during a raid in June, Ontario’s police watchdog said in a report Friday that offers new details about the case.
The Special Investigations Unit concluded that the suspect fired multiple times at police, and that Pinizzotto and another officer who fired back were defending themselves and other officers involved in the June 11 raid.
“There can be no doubt that the officers believed their lives to be in danger and that they acted to protect themselves from grievous bodily harm and death,” SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote in the report.
Toronto police have said the raid was part of an investigation into multiple shootings, including one at the U.S. consulate in March.
The suspect was the target of a search warrant obtained by the guns and gangs task force, and police had information that he was armed, the SIU report said.
Body-worn camera footage showed that police forced their way into an apartment in the area of Black Creek Drive and Trethewey Drive around 5:40 a.m., and Pinizzotto made his way down a hallway leading to the bedrooms, the SIU report said.
The suspect then emerged from one of the bedrooms, pointed a handgun at Pinizzotto and fired “at close range,” the SIU said. The 43-year-old officer fell backwards into the hallway, it said.
“Within seconds,” another officer fired his rifle through a wall separating the hallway and the suspect’s bedroom. That officer then moved toward the bedroom doorway and fired additional rounds toward the suspect, the SIU said.
“Audible cries of pain were heard following the exchange,” the report said. “The entire gunfire event occurred within a matter of seconds.”
Pinizzotto was shot in the arm and chest, the SIU said, and he was pronounced dead in hospital. The suspect was seriously injured and taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Other people who were in the apartment at the time were not injured, the SIU said.
Toronto police have identified the suspect as 19-year-old Nicholas Bennett, who was charged with first-degree murder in Pinizzotto’s death. The allegation has not been proven in court.
The SIU director wrote in his report that police were “lawfully placed” in the apartment at the time of the gunfire exchange and that officers acted reasonably when they fired at the suspect.
“The complainant’s use of a gun against the officers left them with no alternative but to try to defend themselves with a resort to lethal force of their own,” Martino wrote.
“Put simply, nothing short of a firearm had the stopping power required of the moment. Retreat or withdrawal were not viable options given the speed at which events unfolded, and the use of less-lethal weaponry would have exposed the officers to a greater risk of harm.”
There’s no basis for criminal charges against the officer who fired multiple times at the suspect, Martino wrote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2026.
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