Fog Blog Covid 19 Log: Customer Refuses Mask Leads To His Death:

Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit is investigating after an unidentified 73-year-old man was fatally shot in Haliburton County on Wednesday morning.

In a news release,the SIU said provincial police responded to a call at a Valu-Mart in Minden, Ont., where the man had allegedly assaulted an employee after refusing to wear a mask to enter the store. Linda Easton, the owner of the store, told the Minden Times that the man started “pounding” on her employee after he offered the man a free mask at the store entrance. “The guy just didn’t want to wear a mask”, she said.She explained that her staff attempted to escort the man out of the store. Once the man got in to his car, he attempted to run down a store employee and seemed to crash into the side of the store, before driving on to the highway. “He was speeding away and hit a truck, turning it sideways,” she said.OPP Sgt. Jason Folz confirmed in a telephone interview with the National Post that the man had attempted to swerve his car into an employee, but Folz said he did not see any damage to the store and did not know whether a truck had been struck and overturned. Police attempted to stop the man during a vehicular pursuit, Floz said, but “when it was clear that he wasn’t going to stop”, they discontinued the attempt, citing public safety concerns.Based on the man’s licence plate, officers made their way to an address on Indian Point Road near Drag Lake, Ont., which was the man’s residence, Folz confirmed.Outside the home, an “interaction” followed in which two officers discharged their firearms.“The man was struck,” the news release states, although it’s unclear who fired the first shot and whether the officers fatally shot the man.He was then taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m., the SIU stated. Investigators are still attempting to locate the man’s next-of-kin.Residents in the neighbouring area were asked to stay inside their homes and keep doors locked, although they were not initially told why.