Neighbours say man shot dead by police was ‘non-threatening’

A loud upstairs neighbour appears to have been the catalyst that led to the fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man by police over the weekend.

Neighbours said Andrew Loku was upset that the woman who lived in the unit above his was making too much noise, and Loku was banging on the door of her third-floor apartment when police arrived on the scene. A few minutes later Loku was fatally shot by an officer. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the province’s Special Investigations Unit, which is now investigating the shooting, police were called to the low-rise apartment building on Gilbert Avenue, in the Eglinton Avenue West and Caledonia Road area, just before midnight on Sunday.

Police said they had received reports of a man armed with a hammer.

Susan, who lives in the building and heard the incident, said the whole thing happened very quickly after police arrived on scene.

“They ran up the stairs and pop pop, Andrew was dead,” she explained. “Andrew didn’t have time to drop whatever he had in his hands.”

Neighbours described Loku has a helpful, sweet, non-threatening guy who had never an outburst like this before.

Twenty-two units in the building are used as Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) housing.

“It’s a very tragic incident for everybody involved, including the young man who lost his life,” Steve Laurie with the CMHA said.

Due to privacy issues, building officials would not comment if Loku had been renting his unit through the CMHA.

Laurie said the system is designed to be anonymous.

“Of those 600 units that we have or the 5,000 units across the city, most of them are not known to the neighbours, nor should they be because people have a right to privacy,” he explained.

Residents said police have been called several times to different units in the building and should have been aware that some residents do suffer from mental health issues.

The SIU is an arm’s-length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today