By: Surjit Singh Flora
Region of Peel – The Peel Regional Police Service’s chief is defending the use of an “active shooter” alert earlier this week, which has been criticized for being too late and for using vague language.
Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at a news conference Thursday morning, “It certainly served its purpose, no matter how frustrating or unclear it might seem.”
While updating on Thursday at Peel Police headquarters Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said, that the communities lost the deaths, including Milton resident Shakeel Ashraf, 38, and Toronto police constable Andrew Hong, are devastated.
While Stephen J. Tanner, the Chief of Police of the Halton Regional said that “guns kill people and illegal firearms kill people,” adding that the Special Investigations Unit now has possession of the pistol that was used in the killings. “He (the shooter) was not an authorized gun owner.”
Petrie was identified by the police as having a significant criminal history, including arrests for assault, robbery, and gun possession. Based on a crime from 2005, Petrie was identified as having a “high risk” of reoffending. He was also prohibited from possessing a gun. Here are other images captured on camera of the suspect:
Police in Peel The gunshots may have been random or targeted, Det. Michael Mavity said, but police think Hong “was a uniform cop and he was purposefully targeted.”
At the moment of the shooting, the shooter made an effort to disarm Hong, according to Mavity.
While the province’s Special Investigations Unit is looking into Petrie’s passing. This unit looks into any situations involving police and citizens that result in fatalities, severe injuries, or accusations of sexual assault.
Officers from the Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau are investigating the murders of Constable Andrew Hong and Mr. Shakeel Ashraf and further shooting incidents that injured three other people in both Peel and Halton Regions.
On Monday, September 12, 2022, at approximately 2:15 p.m., police responded to reports of a shooting at the Tim Hortons restaurant located at 3110 Argentia Road in Mississauga. 48-year-old Toronto Police Constable Andrew Hong of Traffic Services, was found deceased inside the restaurant.
Constable Hong was instructing at a Police Motorcycle Operations Course sponsored by Peel Regional Police. Constable Hong was on his lunch break when the suspect ambushed and shot him at close range.
Shortly after this incident, the suspect fled to a nearby parking lot and, while carjacking a Black SUV, shot the male driver before fleeing the scene. That male was transported to a trauma centre, where he underwent surgery for his injuries. He remains in stable condition and has life-altering injuries.
At approximately 2:50pm, the Halton Regional Police Service responded to multiple reports of a shooting at an auto shop in Milton which resulted in the tragic death of 38-year-old father and business owner Shakeel Ashraf. Two other victims were transported to hospital. They remain in critical and serious conditions and police are not releasing their names at this time.
The suspect was later located in Hamilton and was later pronounced deceased as a result of an interaction with police while attempting to take him into custody. The Special Investigations Unit is now investigating.
The suspect has been identified as 40-year-old Sean Petrie, of no fixed address. Petrie has an extensive criminal record dating back 20 years with convictions for assault, armed robbery, robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, careless storage of a firearm, possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, possession of property obtained by crime, theft under $5000, failure to comply with a probation order and failure to comply with recognizance. In 2007, he was placed on the National Flagging System after being deemed a high risk to re-offend. His last conviction was in 2015 for a Criminal Driving offence.
Peel Regional Police remain the lead agency of these multijurisdictional Major Case Management investigations and are working alongside Halton Regional Police Service and York Regional Police Service.
While Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie attended the news conference and offered her condolences to the victims.
“I’m truly heartbroken that this has happened in our city and that the families who lost their loved ones must now find a new way forward with this unexpected grief,” she said. “Over the past few days, we’ve seen our community come together to mourn. We have seen that love is more powerful than hate and that by being there for one another, and by honouring their lives, it is our hope that each day that passes gets a little bit easier.”
