The anguished renovator who alerted police to a dazed man clad in a hospital gown lurking in the backyard of an east-end house last Friday says police did not need to kill him.

“From what I saw, this was uncalled for. There was no need to shoot him,” said Vince, who wouldn’t reveal his full name. “I don’t want the family to know it was me. I feel responsible. I’m still struggling to cope.”

The renovator’s remorse has led him to break his silence about the shooting of 29-year-old Michael Eligon, an event he saw unfold in front of him on Milverton Boulevard, near Coxwell and Danforth Avenues, at 10:15 a.m.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit, the police watchdog, is probing the case and could lay criminal charges against the officer who fired the shots.

“It seems the victim didn’t have a chance,” the renovator said. “If he did something bad, like kill somebody, then I could understand. I thought there could have been pepper spray or a Taser. Or shoot him in the leg.”

Eligon was wielding what is believed to be two pairs of scissors after fleeing Toronto East General Hospital about four blocks away.

A clerk at a convenience store near the hospital suffered a small cut on his hand prior to that fatal shooting, and an officer suffered minor injuries at the scene.