Jury calls for better training and weapons after fatal OPP shooting

[Michael Jack]

A jury charged with reviewing the fatal shooting of Matthew Rice by OPP officers in Collingwood has recommended more training and more advanced energy weapons for Ontario Provincial Police officers.

The virtual proceeding held Nov. 18-20, 2025, dove into the details surrounding the death of Rice, 29, at a home in Collingwood. The inquest took place more than five years after Rice's death, a detail noted by the jury.

Rice was shot eight times by police and died shortly after 1 p.m. on Sept. 9, 2020. A report by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) states Rice came out of the house, which has since been demolished, carrying a shotgun and was told to drop it.

The SIU reports Rice made an obscene gesture at the police officer and cursed. Then he pointed the shotgun in the officer's direction.

"The officer discharged 11 rounds, eight of which struck the man," states the SIU report released today. "The man was on his feet with a shotgun in hand until the final shot was discharged."

A Cooey Model 84 shotgun model and single viable shotgun shell was recovered from the scene. The gun was not loaded when it was collected.

The police officer who shot Rice fired from a C8 rifle.

The director of the SIU, Joseph Martino, concluded the police acted to "thwart the threat of imminent death to himself and others," and thus committed no criminal offence.

Following the public hearing conducted by a coroner (Dr. John Carlisle) plus lawyer, or retired judge before jury of five community members, a report with recommendations is posted publicly by the Office of the Chief Coroner.

The jury made four recommendations to the OPP and one for the Chief Coroner's office.

First, the jury said the OPP should research conductive energy weapons with the ability to deploy multiple charges from a "safer distance" to increase effective deployment.

If available, states the jury's recommendation, those weapons should be available to at least the emergency response team.

According to details from the SIU report, a police officer did fire an energy weapon at Rice before anyone discharged a gun, but missed.

There was no public report of any further energy weapon discharges in Rice's case.

The remaining three recommendations from the jury relate to training for OPP officers.

The jury suggested more training and procedures to use loudspeakers when attempting to communicate, to increase the likelihood of making contact with people involved in the crisis.

There was also a recommendation to use simulation training for severe mental health crises involving uncooperative, barricaded, and suicidal people with weapons.

The jury suggested this simulation training should be annual for OPP officers.

A request to the OPP asking whether the jury's recommendations have been implemented was answered with an email from the OPP's corporate communications bureau.

Gosia Puzio, a media relations staffer for the OPP, confirmed the OPP received the jury's findings and recommendations.

"We are in the process of carefully reviewing the recommendations addressed to the OPP and will provide our responses to the Office of the Chief Coroner," stated Puzio in an email.

"The OPP takes these types of matters seriously and will take the time it needs to conduct a complete and thorough review of the recommendations."

The final recommendation made by the jury was to have inquests sooner after fatal incidents.

"Conduct inquests as soon as possible after an incident to ensure that witness testimony is accurate and reliable," states the jury's recommendation. "Prompt inquests also help adapt findings and recommendations to the current environment, which may change rapidly."

There were a total of three similar recommendations for more timely inquests listed by juries that conducted inquests in the last year.

It is required by the Coroner's Act that there be an inquest if a death occurs when the use of force by a police officer was a cause of the person's death.

A coroner's inquest is not a criminal proceeding, but it is a public process and will provide information about the circumstances of a death.

https://www.orilliamatters.com/police-b ... g-11861243