The Canadian Mental Health Association is adding its voice to a chorus calling for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Toronto man Andrew Loku, saying too many questions remain unanswered about the fatal police shooting that has been the focus of heated protest in recent weeks.

In a letter to the Ontario Coroner’s office, CMHA Toronto’s president and executive director urge a public review, underscoring concerns about the conduct of police before and after the shooting. .

A coroner’s inquest may be the only way the public —and Loku’s family — will learn any details of the fatal shooting.

In a brief press release last month, the Special Investigations Unit, the agency that probes fatal encounters with police, announced the unnamed officer would face no charges. The SIU director’s report detailing the decision remains secret, sent solely to the Ministry of the Attorney General.

“We believe the public interest and justice for Andrew Loku, his family and the community will be served by holding an inquest into his death,” CMHA president and board chair Catherine Anastakis and executive director Steve Lurie wrote.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Coroner’s Office said in an email Thursday that no decision has been made on an inquest, “as we are still awaiting some information.”

Loku, a 45-year-old father of five from South Sudan, was shot dead last July in the hallway of his building, which is leased by CMHA to house people with mental health challenges.

Police were responding to a call that Loku was armed with a hammer and threatening to kill a woman. According to the SIU, Loku refused to drop the hammer as he approached two officers, prompting one to shoot to thwart an “imminent hammer attack.”

The decision prompted a two-week protest by Black Lives Matter outside Toronto police headquarters, with demonstrators calling for a coroner’s inquest and more information about the SIU’s decision — including the name of the officer who shot Loku. There have also been calls to release a video that partially captured the shooting.

Questions about the video are among the reasons the CMHA is calling for an inquest. The CMHA told the SIU that, according to the superintendent of Loku’s building, police on scene reviewed video of the incident before SIU investigators arrived — which would contravene rules following a fatal shooting.

Once the SIU mandate is invoked, officers must only secure the scene to protect its integrity for the SIU’s independent investigators.

Police spokesperson Mark Pugash said unequivocally Thursday that is exactly what officers did.

“The officers secured the video, as it is their job to do,” he said in an email. “They did NOT view the video.”

Jason Gennaro, spokesperson for the SIU, confirmed that CMHA staff told the SIU of their concerns regarding police accessing the video. “I can tell you the SIU treats seriously any allegation of this nature,” Gennaro said in email.

The SIU probe determined that the video could not be accessed and viewed without a password — “a password that neither the police nor the building superintendent possessed.”

Gennaro said the SIU also looked into whether the footage had been deleted or altered; the video does not capture all of the encounter.

“Despite the fact that the police would have been unable to access the video, we consulted with an expert at the Ministry of Finance as well as the manufacturer of the video recording system. We obtained definitive confirmation from both sources that no video footage was deleted or altered.”

But CMHA says it provided evidence to the SIU that the superintendent had the password to view the video in the superintendent’s apartment, which is where the video was seen. It was when the superintendent brought the police to the server room, in the building’s laundry room, that a problem was encountered with a password.

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“There is clearly a difference of opinion. That’s why we need to have an inquest as to the facts,” Lurie said. “We are absolutely prepared to provide this information to the coroner’s office.”

Lurie emphasizes that the fundamental issue for the inquest is whether the fatal encounter could have been avoided.

“Given witness accounts and video tape in our possession, it does not seem that methods other than use of force were used, despite police training and directives on de-escalation,” the CMHA letter writes.

The SIU’s statement clearing the officer said that, from the moment police arrived on scene, “it was a matter of seconds until the shooting, at which time I have no doubt that the subject officer feared for his life and that of his partner.”

Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack has said officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and “repeatedly asked Mr. Loku to drop his weapon.”

In an opinion piece published by the Star last week, McCormack said police had, just three hours before the shooting, helped Loku when they saw him in a dangerous situation: riding a three-wheeled scooter on a busy downtown highway.

McCormack said officers loaded his scooter in a police car and drove him home.

But Lurie said that new information about police interaction with Loku hours before the shooting raises the question of whether more could have been done to help Loku; it’s one more issue the inquest could examine, he said.

Alongside the CMHA and Black Lives Matter, former Toronto Police Services Board chair Alok Mukherjee is also calling for a coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death.

It would “provide an opportunity to enquire publicly into the changes that have been made” by the police service when it comes to interactions with people dealing with mental health challenges, and to recommend additional measures, Mukherjee wrote in a letter to the office of the chief coroner this week.

“I understand that an inquest is not intended to assess blame, and that is not my purpose here,” he wrote.

In the coming weeks, police will have to provide a written response to the SIU decision in the Loku case to the police board. Legally, such responses from Ontario’s police services may be made public, though in practice it is rare that they are released.