A Surrey Police Service cruiser. (Photo: British Columbia Emergency Photography on Flickr)
At least seven people were killed through police actions in Canada in May 2026. Police have killed at least 27 people so far this year.
At least three people were killed by police in April 2026 and at least nine were killed in March 2026. At least three people were killed in February 2026, while in January, police killed at least five people. One person was also killed by private security serving in a hospital in January.
In 2025, at least 94 people were killed in Canadian police actions. In 2024, at least 100 people were killed. There were at least 97 police-involved deaths in Canada in 2023, while in 2022 there were at least 117 police-involved deaths.
Three people were shot and killed by police in May. Two people died in custody, one of those deaths occurring in hospital following injuries sustained during arrest. One person died in a fall with police deployed. Three of the victims were described as being in crisis at the time police were deployed. One died in custody following a wellness check.
The details below are based on police reports, reports from oversight agencies, media reports, and in some cases information from families. As always, because there are no formal, systemic mechanisms for documenting and reporting police killings publicly in Canada, all numbers presented for police-involved deaths represent an undercount.
As well as the known, confirmed, cases, there are instances of police-involved deaths that have no formal public reporting. For example, the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) lists four death investigation for which they provide no reporting: RCMP in Chetwynd on May 2; Saanich Police Department on May 21; West Shore RCMP on May 22; Ladysmith RCMP on May 25.
There are also other deaths for which insufficient information is available regarding the interactions and/or role of police, whether there was a direct encounter or the nature of the encounter, etc. For example, The SIU is investigating the deaths of three people who fell from apartment units while police were outside their unit or outside the building: Toronto Police Service on May 1; Ottawa Police Service on May 20; Toronto Police Service on May 25.
May 12-13. Vancouver Police Department. Fall.
The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia (IIO) is investigating the death of a woman who fell from the Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver during a police intervention that took place over more than nine hours. According to the IIO, around 3 PM on May 12, Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers responded to reports of a woman standing on the outside of the railing on the Granville Street Bridge. The bridge was shut and officers reportedly tried to communicate with the woman for several hours before she fell to her death around 12:30 AM on May 13.
In response to the woman’s death, Crisis Centre BC has issued a letter to the City of Vancouver, criticizing council’s decision to remove funding for suicide barriers on the bridge from its 2027-2030 budget plan. The City of Vancouver says it is asking for senior levels of government to provide funding support for the project before it would reallocate funds from within the capital budget.
The Vancouver Police Board approved a police budget request of over $497 million in 2026, a $50 million increase over 2025’s final budget.
May 22. Windsor Police Service. Shooting.
Windsor Police Service (WPS) officers shot and killed a 35-year-old man on the evening of May 22. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) reports that at approximately 6:30 PM, WPS officers were called to the area of Thornbury Crescent and the 6700 block of Roseville Garden Drive regarding a man allegedly possessing a knife and involved in an altercation with another man. Police arrived at the area and reportedly located an injured man.
A man, reportedly with a knife, fled on foot and was located by officers. Police deployed a conducted energy weapon (taser) and shot the man with their firearms. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A group of young men playing cricket in a nearby field at the time of the shooting report hearing 10 shots. One told media that there were two distinct waves of shootings with several shots fired, “then a pause before the ‘pops’ resumed.”
The SIU has assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to examine the killing.
May 24. Waterloo Regional Police Service.
The SIU is investigating the death of a 62-year-old man on the night of May 24, in Waterloo. They report that at approximately 6 PM, the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) became aware that a man was in crisis and was threatening to harm himself. Officers went to an apartment building in the area of University Avenue East and Weber Street North and began negotiations with the man. At some point, officers made their way into the unit and found the man. He was dead of an apparent gunshot wound. Three investigators and two forensic investigators have been assigned by the SIU to examine the death.
Policing is not health care. Police are not the appropriate response to someone in crisis.
May 24-25. Ontario Provincial Police. Custody.
A 28-year-old man died in Northumberland OPP custody on May 25.
According to the SIU, on the evening of May 24, OPP officers attended an address in Cramahe Township to do a wellness check on a man at the request of a family member. Officers learned that the man was wanted on a fail to comply warrant and arrested.
EMS was contacted due to facial injuries the officers observed the man to have, and he was transported to hospital. He was medically cleared and released into police custody.
He was then transported to the OPP Northumberland Detachment and detained in a cell.
The following morning, the victim went into medical distress. Paramedics transported him to hospital. He was pronounced dead there.
The SIU has assigned three investigators and one forensic investigator to examine the death.
Policing is not about wellness. Police prioritize punishment over care. They are not the appropriate responders for wellness checks.
May 22-27. Montreal Police Service. Arrest.
On May 27, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (Bureau of Independent Investigations, BEI) announced that a person who was seriously injured during an arrest by the SPVM (le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) on May 22 had died.
According to the BEI, around 12:00 PM on May 22, police officers on patrol intervened against a person in crisis in a public place. Officers then subdued the person and handcuffed them. During this arrest, the person suffered an undisclosed “medical episode.” Paramedics arrived and transported the victim to a hospital where their condition was reported as serious.
The May 27 announcement of the death included no additional details. The BEI only stated, “No further information can be released and the BEI investigation is still ongoing.”
Six investigators from the BEI have assigned to examine the death. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) is reportedly carrying out a parallel criminal investigation into the event, but no details on this have been released publicly either at this time.
May 29. Surrey Police Service. Shooting.
Surrey Police Service (SPS) officers shot and killed a man in Holland Park, a main public space right across from Central City Mall in Whalley, on May 29.
The IIO reports that SPS officers were initially deployed at around 1 PM, regarding a call about an assault at a building on the 13300 block of Old Yale Road. Upon arrival, they reportedly found one person suffering from stab wounds. SPS officers then arrived at the nearby park on Old Yale Road near King George Boulevard where a second person was also found suffering from stab wounds. Around 1:30 PM, a man in the park was reportedly identified by witnesses as having been involved in the assaults.
Video taken by a bystander and shared with media shows at least a dozen officers lined across an open field several yards from the man. He is hit with less lethal rounds, and a police dog is deployed. Then the police run at the man en masse, shooting him several times as he moves away from them. He was taken to hospital with injuries but later pronounced dead.
One of the people suffering from stab wounds was also pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to a hospital with injuries.
A parallel investigation is being conducted by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
This was the second person shot by SPS officers this week. The victim in that shooting was taken to hospital with injuries of “unknown severity.”
May 29. Winnipeg Police Service. Shooting.
Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) officers shot and killed a 34-year-old man on May 29.
It is reported that the situation started at 10:27 AM, when members of the Manitoba Integrated Violent Offender Unit tried to stop a vehicle believed to be driven by a man who had outstanding warrants and was allegedly carrying a firearm. Police claim the driver slammed into a police vehicle and fled the scene.
After several minutes of searching, police reportedly found the man in question walking on King Edward Street. Officers tried to arrest him, but after a police foot chase of several minutes he allegedly ran away and broke into a home in the 400 block of King Edward Street. Police allege he barricaded himself inside with three people. At 11:09 AM, one man ran out of the house and reportedly told officers two teenage girls had been taken hostage.
The police tactical, K9, and other units were called to the scene. Police claim the man pointed a firearm at officers through a window and police fired their weapons a first time. One teen escaped through the home’s main floor window, and the second was removed from the house after a fire broke out and officers entered.
The man then left the home and police shot him. Police claim he was holding a weapon. He was taken to hospital and his death was reported the next day.
Jeff Shantz is a long-time anti-authoritarian organizer, researcher, and writer who lives and works on Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo territories (Surrey, British Columbia).