US officers shoot Canadian man waving handgun replica on border bridge

U.S. officers shot a Canadian man who walked toward a border inspection booth waving what they said looked like a handgun early Sunday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the man stopped his car around 3 a.m. near a booth on the Ambassador Bridge, which goes between Detroit and the Canadian city of Windsor.

As he walked toward them with what appeared to be a black handgun, the officers ordered him to drop the weapon, the statement said. When he pointed it in their direction, they opened fire.

Officials at first said the man they shot had been waving a handgun. But investigators later determined that the man was holding a replica of a handgun, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Kris Grogan said.

Authorities have not released the identity of the man, who they described as a Canadian citizen. He was shot in the arm, treated for his injuries and then taken into custody, Grogan said.

Citing Windsor police, CNN partner CTV said the man has had previous encounters with Canadian law enforcement and confronted police officers minutes before the shooting on the bridge.

After receiving a call reporting a man with a gun in the parking lot of a McDonald’s near the border around 2:40 a.m., Windsor police officers arrived at the scene and ordered the man to drop his weapon, police said.

According to police, the man said, “Why haven’t you shot me yet?” Then he got back in his vehicle and drove away.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, U.S Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Internal Affairs and the Detroit Police are investigating.