MONTREAL--The coroner's inquest into the death of Fredy Villanueva has finished with the final report due this fall.

Villanueva was killed during a confrontation with police in August of 2008, and his death provoked rioting and an acknowledgement of racial tension in Montreal North.

Following a two-year delay caused by legal challenges from the Montreal police force, and witnesses being questioned about the safety of the holsters used by the department wrapped up on Friday after 108 days of testimony.

"I think we’ve proved our case that police should never have shot," lawyer Alain Arsenault said.

Jean-Loup Lapointe, who shot Villanueva and two other men, has said that the reason he opened fire was because he was afraid that the gang of young men he was confronting would be able to take his firearm.

At the inquiry on Friday a weapons expert from the Montreal police force said it was very unlikely that an assailant would be able to quickly snatch a police weapon from its holster.

"The penultimate witness showed that yes, disarming is possible with time, even if lucky, but it’s not something that can happen easily or quickly so he shouldn’t be worried about being disarmed," said Arsenault, who represents Jeffrey Saggard-Metellus who was injured by Lapointe. "And it’s obvious that when he himself takes out his gun he’s taking a risk, and he took the risk and he shot him."

The witness said the holsters were the best on the market, were very safe, and designed in such a way that opening them is somewhat tricky, especially for the untrained.

No members of the Villanueva family have attended the public inquiry this week. They said years ago that they had become disillusioned by the inquest and did not expect to be satisfied with the results.

“It was very clear after what we have heard that there was no justification for Officer Lapointe to shoot on these three young people," said Alexander Popovic of Coalition Against Police Abuse. "The numbers in the report speaks a lot about the reality of racial profiling in this city."

Coroner Andre Perreault is tasked with writing the final report about the death of Villanueva, which triggered race riots in the city.

"We hoped this inquest would have simmered tensions between the police and all citizens. I’m not sure that’s the case," Arsenault said. "We haven’t seen any change of attitude from them."

Police lawyers declined to comment.