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The inquest into the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Quinn MacDougall by Hamilton police begins

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On April 3rd, 2018, 19-year-old Quinn MacDougall was in distress. He told some of his loved ones that someone online was threatening to kill him. His parents told him to call the police.

Before he was shot and killed by Hamilton police officers, MacDougall had called his girlfriend crying. The young woman testified in court Monday that he was acting strange that day and had sent her concerning messages. “He felt life was somewhat pointless and he wanted to die,” she said at the inquest on Monday.

The first time MacDougall called police, no one showed up. The second time, he told the dispatcher that there was a gunman outside of his townhome on Caledon avenue on the Hamilton mountain. Hamilton police officers arrived and noticed there was no gunman there.

The inquest heard today that police began to believe that MacDougall was in crisis. According to the special investigations unit report, MacDougall began lunging at police officers with this knife in his hand. The officers tried to tase him but it appeared to have no effect.

Eventually, the police shot him several times. The entire interaction took just about 4 minutes. His parents told CHCH News in 2019 that they were heartbroken that they told their son to call the police.

The Ontario chief coroner’s inquest is set up much like a trial but no one is facing charges. In fact, the police officers who shot MacDougall have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the SIU. The point of the inquest is to make what happened public. The jury may come up with recommendations to prevent other deaths.

Another witness testified on Monday that he never saw a knife in Quinn MacDougall’s hand, and believed the teen was running towards officers will a cellphone. The online inquest is expected to go on for another 9 days and will hear from a total of 21 witnesses.