# Canada Officer Cleared in Fatal Shooting of Armed Robber



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*BRIAN CALDWELL AND MELINDA DALTON, The Record*
_GUELPH MERCURY (ONTARIO, CANADA) _

A Waterloo regional police officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of Trevor Graham during an armed robbery in Kitchener.
The Special Investigations Unit, a civilian watchdog agency, concluded yesterday that Constable Laurie Cartwright was justified when she shot Graham, 26, in the chest with her service handgun Nov. 20.
Investigators determined Graham -- wearing sunglasses, a hooded sweatshirt and a scarf covering his face -- moved steadily towards Cartwright and her partner with a knife in his hand. He ignored repeated demands to stop.
"I have no doubt that the officer shot Mr. Graham believing her life to be in danger," agency director James Cornish said in a news release.
"In the circumstances, faced with an armed robber within feet of her position, I am satisfied the officer's belief was a reasonable one."
Karyn Graham, however, questioned why it was necessary to take such quick action to kill her son -- a troubled man with a history of depression and drug abuse.
She called for a coroner's inquest into the death and a review of police procedures on the use of guns.
"My son came within the area of the cash register and within eight seconds, he was shot," Karyn Graham said. "Does that make the public feel any more protected -- that (the police) go from zero to 60 so quickly?"
Trevor Graham was leaving the Shoppers Drug Mart store in the Sunrise Centre with stolen prescription medication in one hand and a knifelike object in the other.
Responding to a robbery call just after 9:30 p.m., the two uniformed officers met him in the front vestibule of the Ottawa Street South store.
The officers repeatedly told Graham to stop, the agency found. He did not say anything in response, advancing on them until he was shot once by Cartwright.
His weapon was described by agency spokesperson Kaia Werbus as a handle with a knife blade on one end and a hatchet on the other.
Paramedics worked on Graham at the scene, but he was later pronounced dead at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener.
Karyn Graham said she is left with numerous questions, despite meeting with agency representatives to discuss the findings.
Chief among them is why the officers didn't back off and call for reinforcements or use other means to get her son under control.
"Things happening so quickly in there, how could those police officers have really thought and covered all of their options?" she asked.
Inspector Bryan Larkin, a spokesperson for local police, declined to comment on her calls for an inquest and a review of procedures.
But he said the outcome of the independent investigation shows officers are well-trained to deal with difficult situations.








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