Canada: Watchdog says one-year-old killed in police firing

A special investigation report has revealed that police shot dead a one-year-old boy after opening fire on his father's truck in rural Canada. 

Ontario's special investigations unit in its first public finding on Thursday said a review of the evidence suggested that the child's death on November 26 was due to police gunfire. 

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"Upon receipt and review of additional forensic evidence in this case, including the results of the postmortem examination performed on a child, and reports prepared by the Centre of Forensic Sciences of analyses conducted with respect to bloodstains in the pickup truck, the trajectory of shots that struck the truck, and firearms, cartridge cases and projectiles, the SIU can today confirm that the child's death … was the result of being shot by police," the watchdog was quoted as saying by The Guardian. 

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For the unversed, the incident began when police responded to a domestic dispute case and were told that the father had kidnapped his one-year-old son and was potentially armed. 

As police attempted to stop the father's truck, it collided with a police car and another vehicle. 

Three cops then fired on the vehicle, the SIU said. 

The child who was sitting in the back seat was pronounced dead at the scene and his 33-year-old father, who was also injured by the bullet, lost his life a week later. 

The SIU added that the investigation is being carried on and no charges were laid on Thursday. 

"We are all devastated when a child tragically dies," the province's police said after the findings.