OPP Provincial Constable Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28, was shot and killed in the line of duty near Hagarsville, Ontario on Dec. 27, 2022.
On that day, Pierzchala was responding to a black truck in a ditch near Hagersville around 2:30 p.m.
Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique said the shooting death “should never have happened,” as the alleged shooter was out on bail and had a lifetime ban from owning a firearm.
Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Stewart-Speary, 30, are both charged with first-degree murder and remain in custody. They are going to trial on the charges.
In 2018, McKenzie was given a lifetime ban from possessing firearms and there was a warrant for his arrest for previous firearm-related charges at the time of the shooting.
McKenzie was released from prison in May 2017 for an armed robbery.
He was released on bail on a number of conditions, which included that he was to remain in his residence and not possess any firearms.
He failed to appear in court on these charges Sept. 6, 2022, and a warrant was issued. The warrant was active at the time of the shooting.
Officer Pierzchala’s death renewed calls for bail reform. In 2018, the Liberal government’s Bill C-75 “modernized” bail provisions with amendments that “legislate a ‘principle of restraint’ for police and courts to ensure that release at the earliest opportunity is favoured over detention, that bail conditions are reasonable, relevant to the offence and necessary to ensure public safety, and that sureties are imposed only when less onerous forms of release are inadequate.”
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