SIU investigates after man, 52, dies of gunshot wound west of Renfrew
![Russell Sutherland died Dec. 6 during a confrontation with police on his farm near Douglas. The SIU is investigating. Joanne Laucius](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/img_1473-jpg.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=s_qW8506K2b7JxPcNSf0qw)
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A 52-year-old man died Wednesday of a gunshot wound while he was “interacting” with OPP officers on a farm southwest of Renfrew, says the province’s Special Investigations Unit.
The SIU is probing the circumstances behind the death, which occurred around 3 p.m. near the corners of Scotch Bush Road and Sutherland Road between the villages of Douglas and Dacre.
Family members say the man is Russell Sutherland, 52, a long-time area resident, farmer and father of four who also worked as a crane operator.
On Wednesday, Sutherland left the farm on a tractor and left behind a note that alarmed his wife who called police, said his cousins, Gordon McFarlane and Ernie Dick.
It is unclear how Sutherland sustained the gunshot wound, but Dick said the the police “tried to talk him out of it.”
Sutherland has worked as a crane operator in Toronto and more recently in Napanee, while his wife and the couple’s two youngest children remained on a farm Sutherland bought from his father about four years ago, said his cousins. Sutherland’s wife, Kathleen, looked after the farm and Sutherland would return whenever possible to help out, said McFarlane, who lives only a few hundred metres away from the Sutherland farm.
“We have been neighbours all of our lives,” said McFarlane.
The family has farming roots in the area for many generations. Dick described Sutherland as a hard worker and a devoted family man.
“He was an all-around good guy,” said Dick. “I’ve knew him all my life. He was a hard-working lad.”
“It is really a shock. No one saw it coming,” said Dick.
The SIU report on the incident says only that OPP officers went to the scene after receiving a call from a concerned family member. The officers found the man at the back of the property and while they were “interacting” with the man. He sustained a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a terse report released by the SIU.
The SIU investigates reports involving police where there has been a death, serious injury or sexual assault.
SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon said as the investigation is ongoing and she is not able to release more information.
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