SIU clears officer in October shootout after Crystal Beach lockdown

Police blocked a vehicle at a Niagara Falls gas station at about 2:30 a.m. on October 22, 2025, where an officer shot and killed a 38-year-old murder suspect following an exchange of gunfire.

Ontario’s police watchdog ruled Wednesday that the officer acted lawfully, closing an investigation tied to a search that prompted a shelter-in-place order in Crystal Beach hours earlier.

The decision ends a months-long review into a case that brought a heavy police presence to Fort Erie’s south coast neighbourhoods and raised concerns about public safety during the search for a suspect linked to a Brampton homicide and Amber Alert.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) found no reasonable grounds to believe the Niagara Regional Police officer committed a criminal offence in the death of Anthony Deschepper, 38, who was wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in Brampton one day earlier.

Joseph Martino, director of the SIU, wrote that the officer shot in self-defence after Deschepper opened fire during a high-risk takedown at Gale’s Gas Bar near Thorold Stone Road and Montrose Road.

The SIU determined that three police cruisers boxed in a vehicle connected to Deschepper before the shooting. Investigators concluded Deschepper, who was in the back seat under blankets, fired three shots toward the officer, according to reporting by the Niagara Falls Review.

“Confronted by that same individual pointing and firing a gun in his direction, the officer would have had every reason to believe that he needed to act to save himself and his fellow officers from death or grievous bodily harm,” Martino wrote.

The officer discharged eight or nine rounds. Deschepper suffered gunshot wounds to his arm, chest, neck and leg and died at the scene.

A postmortem examination found the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest. Police began first aid immediately after removing him from the vehicle.

“The officer’s life was in imminent peril,” Martino wrote. “Nothing short of the complainant’s immediate incapacitation would meet the exigencies of the moment.”

Niagara Regional Police had joined Peel Regional Police in a search for Deschepper on October 21 after a woman was shot and killed in Brampton and a one-year-old child was reported missing.

That search extended into Crystal Beach, where officers asked residents in the Prospect Point and Ridgeway Road areas to shelter in place as police tracked the suspect.

The order remained in effect for several hours before officers determined Deschepper had left the area. Police later confirmed the child had been found safe with a family member in Niagara.

Deschepper was located hours later in Niagara Falls. Officers from the Emergency Task Unit approached the vehicle before the exchange of gunfire.

A 38-year-old woman in the front seat of the vehicle was arrested at the scene and charged with accessory to an offence. The case remains before the courts.

The SIU report closes the final outstanding investigation into the incident. No charges will be laid against the officer.

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