Ontario Provincial Police say an internal probe is underway into how a man was able to take a police-issued rifle from a cruiser in a northwestern Ontario city.
A 27-year-old man was arrested and charged in April after he allegedly took the firearm from a police car parked at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora. At the time, the OPP said the accused got into the cruiser, stole a police rifle and discharged it.
No one was hurt, police said, but a Kenora resident told CBC News the alleged rifle thief pointed the weapon at him through a front window of his home.
"I can't provide too many details but I can confirm that the OPP professional standards bureau is involved and there is an internal investigation into the matter," Sgt. Shelley Garr, the media relations officer for the OPP in the northwest, told CBC News.
The investigation will be tasked with examining exactly what happened and the circumstances surrounding the theft, Garr said, adding that will include determining whether any officers involved breached the Police Services Act. If the investigation concludes there are grounds for charges under the act, those officers will face internal disciplinary proceedings.
No charges have been laid and no hearings scheduled at this point, she said.
Garr added that she couldn't say how many officers are or could be subject to the investigation; other details, like where the gun was located in the vehicle when it was taken, are evidentiary and can't be divulged, she said.
There is no set timetable for how long the probe will take, Garr said.
"It's just like any sort of investigation the police are involved in, there's no way to know for certain how long something will take, how much time an investigation will take."