14 DAY TRIAL // The death of a teenager carrying a knife on a streetcar in Toronto has drawn criticism of the police force and has prompted protests in the Canadian city.
Sammy Yatim was shot by a police officer after he had pulled a knife on the public means of transportation. The dramatic incident has been caught on video.
Yatim's parents, who immigrated from Syria, are planning to hire a lawyer and possibly sue the force for taking their son's life.
The officer never used a Taser to make Yatim drop his knife. Instead, he pulled a weapon within seconds of beginning negotiations and he fired nine times. According to the CBC, a stun gun was heard after the shooting on the video of the incident.
The name of the 52 Division police officer has not been released and he is currently on paid leave until an investigation into the shooting is concluded.
"Shame!" and "We want justice!" is what protesters yelled out on Monday as they headed for the spot where the teenager died, the intersection of Dundas Street West and Bellwoods Avenue.
Some stopped in front of the police station that dispatched the officer that night. Hundreds gathered to protest on the killing, filling up a city block.
"I think something went wrong here, but I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. [...] But in the meantime, this family has lost a son [and] a brother," demonstrator Marco Chevalier says.
"The police have a bad attitude, it needs to be fixed," adds Henrik Bechmann, working as a software developer.
A Facebook group was started by the victim's younger sister. The "Sammy's Fight Back for Justice" page has already received almost 8,000 likes.
"Police everywhere don't have a right to mistreat us just because they have a weapon," she wrote in the page description.