An inquest jury has ruled the fatal police shooting of Anthony Divers was a homicide.
The decision came late Wednesday after nearly seven hours of deliberation.
Divers’ family was emotional after the jury’s verdict was delivered.
“We’ve waited three years to have this inquest to find out our brother was killed unarmed in crisis. Thank to the jury’s verdict of homicide, our brother’s voice has been heard,” said Yvonne Alexander, Divers’ sister.
The jury also came up with 13 recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future. The recommendations include extra funding for mental health supports for at risk youths and rethinking the use of force training that police services use.
“As long as the recommendations are implemented, hopefully it will not happen again,” said Alexander.
Through the process, the five-person jury heard from 19 witnesses and was shown surveillance video of the 2016 shooting. They also watched footage of Divers striking a security guard earlier in the night.
The inquest is not a criminal proceeding and does not assign blame in the death. The final decision means Diver’s death was at the hands of someone else, not a suicide.
The officer who shot Divers, Cst. Nicholas Cercone, was previously cleared by the Special Investigations Unit of any wrongdoing in 2017.
The night Divers was killed, Hamilton police were searching for him after his wife called 911 to report he hit her and was high on drugs.
The responding officers were aware of Divers criminal past which included a manslaughter conviction.
Cercone spotted Divers walking erratically on James St. South just before midnight on Sept. 30, 2016. He said he believed the 36-year-old was armed with a gun. Cercone said Divers refused to listen to requests to show his hand, which was hidden under his shirt. The officer fired his weapon after Divers began to move towards him.
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