The London police officer who fatally shot a Sarnia man in a Richmond Row alley two months ago is the same officer who shot an armed man twice during a confrontation in the summer, The Free Press has learned.
Two police sources confirmed the officer, a member of the department’s front line patrol unit, whose name The Free Press isn’t publishing because he hasn’t been charged, fired his service weapon in both cases.
The actions of that officer are at the centre of an investigation by Ontario’s police watchdog agency into the fatal shooting of Sarnia tennis pro Justin Bourassa on Oct. 28.
Bourassa, 29, was shot about 3:45 a.m. in the alley of a plaza at Richmond and Paul Mall streets after police were called to a reported break-in near St. George and Mill streets.
There was “an interaction” and an officer shot Bourassa, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said.
Two officers, one of whom was injured, were involved in the interaction, London police said at the time.