Toronto police Chief Bill Blair says people "have every right to be concerned" after an 18-year-old man armed with a knife on a downtown streetcar was shot repeatedly and killed by police this weekend — an incident captured by amateur video.
Blair said he had seen the video, which has been posted online.
Witnesses say Sammy Yatim was alone on the 505 Dundas streetcar near Trinity Bellwoods Park when he was shot just after midnight Saturday morning. He had pulled a knife and ordered everybody off the streetcar, witnesses say.
The video shows the stopped streetcar at a distance, with multiple police officers nearby, at least one with his hands raised to shoulder height.
Nine gunshots are heard within 13 seconds.
Blair said he knows the public has many questions after seeing the video. "I am also seeking answers to those important questions."
The chief said he has asked deputy chief Mike Federico to reach out to the family.
"As a father, I can only image their terrible grief and their need for answers," Blair said.
Blair did not take questions, noting that he is forbidden by law to interfere with the investigation of Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit.
The SIU has begun an investigation of the incident as it must under provincial law.
The chief said there will also be an internal investigation.
The Ontario ombudsman also said in a tweet Monday that his office will be "reviewing" the shooting on Tuesday.
Security expert concerned
Ross McLean, a security expert and former Toronto police officer, studied a version of the video with enhanced video and audio, frame by frame.
He said it raises serious questions about how police handled the confrontation.
On the enhanced video, a six-second jolt from a Taser can be heard after the gunshots, McLean said. Yatim also appears to put his hands over his head at one point on the enhanced video, he said.
'Your mouth is your best weapon'
McLean says if the officers had waited another minute for the officer with the Taser to arrive instead of opening fire, Yatim might be alive today. "Should you be Tasering someone who's been shot six or nine times and lying on the ground?" he told CBC News.
McLean says the video also suggests police did not engage the suspect.
"Your mouth is your best weapon," he said.
The key is to communicate with and contain the suspect, he said.
Sammy Yatim was a recent high school graduate. (Facebook)
"He was fairly contained. He was in the streetcar. He could have let that guy sit there all night."
Police can be heard on the enhanced video saying "Drop the knife!" and "If you take one step in this direction, you're finished," McLean told CBC host Matt Galloway on Toronto's morning radio program Metro Morning.
McLean said it's unlikely that any of the nine shots were warning shots.
"This officer's going to have to explain why he used the level of force he did," McLean said.
Vigil today
A vigil for Yatim has been planned for 5 p.m. today at Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto.
The family, which moved to Toronto from Syria about five years ago, is hiring a lawyer and wonders how police could shoot him multiple times even after it appears he went down.
His sister, Sarah, said her family is in shock.
Yatim's friends have posted their condolences for the recent high school graduate on social media, and Sarah has started a Facebook group that she hopes will help stop what she considers an injustice at the hands of police.
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