The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) concluded there were “no reasonable grounds” to lay charges in the November 2024 shooting, which drew outrage from the Rwandan-Canadian community and sparked months of calls for accountability.<\/p>\n
Kabera was shot multiple times on November 9, 2024, in the hallway of his Main Street West apartment building after police responded to reports of a man appearing to carry a handgun and behaving erratically. <\/p>\n
According to the SIU report, Kabera was holding a replica firearm and advanced toward the officers before being shot. He was hit by eight bullets and died in hospital hours later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe object in the complainant\u2019s possession was not an actual firearm, although it did give the appearance of being a genuine semi-automatic pistol,\u201d said SIU Director Joseph Martino. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe officers reasonably believed their lives, and those of nearby residents, were in danger,” he added.<\/p>\n
The decision to clear the officers has left Kabera\u2019s grieving family and members of the Rwandan diaspora dismayed.<\/p>\n
In a statement released through their legal counsel, Falconers LLP, the family expressed their disappointment: \u201cErixon was loved by many and is deeply missed by his family, friends, and his community both in Canada and in Rwanda. We are disappointed with the findings of the investigation and are considering our legal options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kabera, who worked as a Resource Officer with the Canada Revenue Agency and held leadership roles within the Rwandan community, including serving as Vice President of the Rwandan Community Abroad in Toronto, was remembered as a gentle and dedicated man who championed youth empowerment and cultural healing.<\/p>\n
His brother, Parfait Karekezi, described him as a confidant, mentor, and friend. \u201cErixon was everything to me,\u201d he said in an earlier interview. \u201cI don\u2019t even know how I\u2019m going to live with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SIU report said police fired as many as 24 rounds after Kabera exited his apartment holding the replica gun at waist level. One officer also deployed a Taser. During the altercation, one officer was wounded in the head by a bullet fired mistakenly by the other officer.<\/p>\n
While the SIU acknowledged the officers\u2019 mistaken belief that they were under fire, the family has long questioned whether the police response was proportional and why alternative de-escalation measures weren\u2019t used.<\/p>\n
“The initial narrative presented to the public was both misleading and damaging,” the family stated in November, referring to a police update that initially suggested an exchange of gunfire. The SIU later corrected that, confirming only police discharged weapons.<\/p>\n
In the over 200 days it took to complete the investigation, community leaders, including Alain Patrick Ndengera, Chairperson of the Rwandan Community in Canada, called for transparency and independent oversight. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf any police officers are found to have acted wrongly, they should face the courts,\u201d Ndengera said.<\/p>\n
The Hamilton Police Service acknowledged the \u201cprofound impact\u201d the shooting has had and offered to meet with Kabera\u2019s family and Rwandan community leaders \u201cwhen the community is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for many, the conclusion of the investigation offers little closure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey killed him like a dog,\u201d Kabera\u2019s brother Yves Ikobe said in a past interview, recounting bullet holes left in the apartment wall and the trauma his family has endured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two Hamilton police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Erixon Kabera, a 43-year-old Rwandan father of three, will not face criminal charges, Ontario\u2019s police watchdog announced Friday, June 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000088780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000088780,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gcfk8qaw8aasvml-5d267-c890f_1_.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000088780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54413"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54413"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}