Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says it has concluded its investigation into the death of Staff Sergeant Kal Ghadban at Ottawa Police Headquarters in September.
In a news release, the SIU said Ghadban ended his own life on Sept. 28 and that “there are no reasonable grounds to charge any officer with the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) with a criminal offence” in relation to his death.
The SIU said the tactical unit had been notified Ghadban might have been suicidal and went looking for him. The unit was at police headquarters on Elgin Street because they had just provided security for a memorial service honouring fallen police and peace officers on Parliament Hill.
According to the SIU, some members of the unit discovered Ghadban’s firearm wasn’t secured in his locker and others went to Ghadban’s private office in the street crime unit.
When one officer saw the inner office was closed and the outer office unclocked, the team began mobilizing.
Within a few minutes, according to the SIU, a gunshot was heard and officers, one equipped with a ballistic shield, rushed in. It was then officers discovered Ghadban on the ground.
The SIU said no one attempted to communicate with Ghadban prior to entering.
The release said “…they were too late to make a difference,” and that “It cannot be said that anything they did or omitted to do would have caused the scenario to have ended any differently.”
The SIU said three investigators and one forensic investigator were assigned to probe the circumstances of this incident. Seven witness officers and one civilian witness were interviewed.
Ghadban was a 22-year veteran of the Ottawa Police Service.
He left behind a wife and three children.
