Coroner's inquest ordered into death of Indigenous man shot by Ottawa police in 2019

A coroner's inquest has been ordered into the death of Gregory Ritchie, a 30-year-old Ojibway man from Saugeen First Nation near Owen Sound, who was shot by Ottawa Police Service officers on January 31, 2019, at Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre.

Dr. Louise McNaughton-Filion, the regional supervising coroner, announced the inquest on September 14. The inquest is mandatory under the Coroners Act. A date and venue will be announced later.

On the morning of the incident, a dispatcher called reporting a person at Elmvale Acres with a knife. Two Ottawa police constables arrived. According to reporting at the time, one officer attempted to talk to Ritchie, who grew frustrated and threatened the officer. The officer fired a Taser twice during the altercation. When Ritchie moved toward the officers with a handmade object in his hands and raised it above his head, officers fired. One officer fired two or three shots; the officer who deployed the Taser fired seven or eight times. Three bullets struck Ritchie, who was pronounced dead in hospital.

The Special Investigations Unit investigated. In February 2020, SIU director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges, concluding that police had attempted to speak to Ritchie, used a Taser, and then used reasonably necessary force.

Ritchie's family said he was heading to the pharmacy to pick up medication and was recovering from a concussion. He was seeking treatment for mental illness and recreated cultural artifacts to comfort himself. The object he carried was a stick with a thinly edged rock attached with fabric strips—not the knife the dispatcher reported.

Two officers involved were injured. One was treated in hospital; the other was taken to hospital for assessment. Both were later released.

The inquest jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths.