A 24-year-old man has been charged after allegedly shooting at a Peel Regional Police officer in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to CityNews Toronto, the man fired a gun multiple times in the direction of the officer during the incident, although the officer was not injured. The case has now moved to the courts after the suspect was taken into custody.
The shooting happened near Torbram Road and Lucknow Drive, in the area patrolled by the Peel Regional Police. Investigators say that members of the force's strategic and tactical enforcement policing team were conducting patrols in the area at the time, when the encounter that led to the gunfire took place during the early morning hours.
According to the police account, the suspect fled on foot as officers moved in. During the pursuit that followed, the man turned and discharged a firearm multiple times towards the officer who was chasing him. The shots were fired directly in the direction of the officer, but none of them struck him, and he escaped the confrontation without injury.
The fact that the officer was not injured was highlighted by police as they detailed the seriousness of the incident, in which a firearm was used against a member of the force during an active operation. The suspect was subsequently arrested and identified by investigators in connection with the shooting near Torbram Road and Lucknow Drive.
The man, identified as Isaiah Batchu, has been charged with discharging a firearm with intent and with possession of a restricted firearm. The charges reflect both the use of the weapon against the officer and the unlawful possession of a firearm that, according to authorities, he was not permitted to have at the time of the incident.
Police said that Batchu was allegedly subject to multiple court-ordered firearm bans, including a lifetime prohibition that barred him from possessing weapons. The existence of those prohibitions added to the gravity of the case, as the suspect is accused of carrying and using a firearm despite the standing orders against him at the time of the shooting in the Peel region.