Hundreds protest Toronto police killing of teenager

Hundreds of Canadians have staged a demonstration to protest police violence, following the shooting death of a teenage boy by a Toronto police officer.

The demonstration was held on Monday in Toronto, just two days after 18-year-old Sammy Yatim was shot by a law enforcement officer while he was alone holding a small knife on an empty streetcar.

The whole incident was recorded by a witness and was later posted on YouTube.

The footage shows a total of nine shots being fired at Yatim, who died instantly.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has confirmed that the teen died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained during the incident.

Toronto Police spokesman Tony Vella said the officer who fired the shots “has been suspended with pay, as the law requires.”

Family members and friends have expressed outrage over the shooting, calling it a disproportionate police response.

“Since when does a scrawny 110-pound-something teenager become a threat to a dozen or so brawny policemen… that they felt that they had no other choice but to use lethal force?” said the slain teen’s uncle, Jim Yatim.

City Councilor Janet Davis has also harshly criticized the police killing, saying, “It looks as though this young man was shot when he was alone in the streetcar and surrounded by police officers.”

“Was there nothing else that could be done to save his life?” She added.

Mark Mendelson, a former Toronto police detective, said the video “doesn’t lie” and that the recording is a benefit for investigators.

“If you look at it on its face value at this point, it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that excessive force was used,” said Mendelson.

Ontario’s police are now conducting independent investigations of the shooting.

This is not the first time Toronto police have been criticized for using excessive force. In 2012, officers shot dead a mentally-ill man, who was wearing a hospital gown and holding two pairs of scissors in the middle of the street.