Police fatally shoot man at Toronto’s international airport

On Thursday morning, a police shot and killed an armed 30-year-old man at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, police said.

Two officers fired a gun at the man around 07:00 local time (noon GMT), Ontario police’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said in a statement.

No police officers were injured, and “the public is not considered to be at risk “, as per the SIU, which is responsible for looking into situation involving police shootings.

Authorities say that the shooting took place after they were called to a “dispute”. After trying to ease the situation, the man pulled out a gun, and police fired shots.

The SIU said, on Thursday morning, Peel Regional Police officers were looking into “man in distress” in an SUV at Terminal 1 departures.

Authorities also stated that the incident took place near Terminal 1 departures.

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said officers spent about 10 minutes speaking to the group, which involves two or three people who were in a dispute.

The chief said after “significant efforts to calm the situation“, one of the individuals “abruptly” pulled out a gun. Police officers fired shots on the man.

The man, whose identity has not been released by the police, was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. The incident briefly caused travel disruption at Canada’s busiest airport.

Police confirmed there were temporary road closures around the terminal, but airport authorities told the BBC that flights “continue to operate normally“.

Ontario Provincial Police informed drivers and passengers to “avoid the area”. Buses to the airport were temporarily redirected, but Toronto’s public transit authority has confirmed that normal service has resumed.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke out against the shooting.

“What’s the world coming to? You go to the airport and shootings is happening,” he said, as per the CBC News. Pearson airport is 20km (12 miles) away from Toronto in the city of Mississauga. The airport is the nation’s busiest hub and sees over 40 million passengers each and every year. This isn’t the first time it has made headlines this year.

In February, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis ran off the runway and caught fire  All 80 passengers survived.

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