More than 140 days after he was killed by Hamilton police, family of Erixon Kabera still waits for answers

Parfait Karekezi usually leaves his phone on silent whenever he goes to bed at night, but on the evening of Nov. 9, he decided to leave the ringer on.

He got a call at around 1 a.m. informing him his brother, Erixon Kabera, had died.

"Everything went on hold ... I was not able to think," he told CBC Hamilton.

Kabera had been shot by police officers in his Hamilton apartment building and died of his injuries in the early hours of Nov. 10.

Karekezi, 38, left home in his pyjamas and drove with his wife from his home in Gatineau, Que., to Hamilton. By the time he arrived, his brother's body had already been taken to Toronto for an autopsy.

It's been more than 140 days since Kabera was killed. He was 43, the oldest of five siblings and father of three children. 

For Karekezi, his brother was "everything." 

"Erixon was not only my brother, he was my friend. He was my role model. He was my mentor," he said.

Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), took over the investigation in November.

Hamilton police said someone called on Nov. 9 to report a man "at their door believed to be in possession of a handgun." 

In their initial statement, the SIU said Hamilton officers responded to reports of a man "acting in a threatening manner" and shots were fired. Initially, they said there was an "exchange of gunfire." The next day, SIU issued another statement saying, based on "further investigation", "it does not appear that the man discharged a firearm," but rather two police officers did.

A replica handgun was later recovered at the scene, the SIU said. 

On its website, the police watchdog says it aims to complete investigations within 120 days.

"However, this is not always possible as each investigation has its own requirements and procedures," said a spokesperson for the SIU.