HAGERSVILLE, Ont. — The mayor of a southern Ontario county is calling the killing of a provincial officer heartbreaking and disturbing as details emerge about a criminal past of one of the two suspects charged in his murder.
Court documents show both Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Crystal Lyn Stewart-Sperry, 30, are facing a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28.
Police say Pierzchala responded to a call for a vehicle in a ditch just west of Hagersville, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon and was shot dead when he got there.
The OPP has said Pierzchala had been with force for just over a year and he had been notified that he had passed his 10-month probation period hours before his death. They added he was previously a special constable at Queen's Park who, as a boy, dreamt of joining the police ranks.
"These things just don't happen in Haldimand County," said the county's mayor Shelley Ann Bentley on Wednesday afternoon as she and other community members visited the site of shooting near the Niagara Peninsula.
Some shocked community members laid flowers at a makeshift memorial and police tape surrounded the scene.
"It is heartbreaking, disturbing, very upsetting for our community," Bentley said.
The relationship between Stewart-Sperry and McKenzie has not been publicly confirmed.
In a written statement to The Canadian Press, McKenzie's family expressed their condolences to Pierzchala's family.
"We wish them healing and peace," the statement said.
They said McKenzie had some challenges growing up, got into the wrong crowd in high school and began abusing drugs at a young age.
"Everyone is having a difficult time processing this and is extremely hurt."
Court documents show McKenzie had a history with the justice system.
A 2021 document from the Parole Board of Canada says McKenzie is from the Onondaga First Nations of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He was serving an almost three-year sentence for robbery, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon and other charges when his release was revoked that year because he was not complying with his terms.
In the robbery, which happened in 2017, the document describes how McKenzie pointed a handgun at a restaurant owner, ordering him to hand over his car keys and money.
"You pled guilty, and described that you needed money for drugs," the document says.
The document says McKenzie has experienced the negative impacts of colonialism.
"Your biological parents struggled with alcohol and were neglectful," it reads.
"You believe your adopted grandfather may have attended residential school ... You have suffered abuse, experienced addiction and have been disconnected from your family and cultural community. These losses and negative experiences are likely linked to your offending."
"Intergenerational trauma is a real thing," McKenzie's family said in their statement.
On Wednesday, Harold Sheldrick, who lives close to where the officer was shot, said he was surprised to hear about the fatal shooting in the "peaceful area."
“Sure, there is crime just like anywhere but, I mean, out here it is the first time I have heard someone getting shot and killed," said Sheldrick, who has lived in the area for about a year.
“A lot of these families know each other, so I am kind of surprised something would escalate this far out here.”
Local member of provincial parliament, Bobbi Ann Brady, also visited the scene Wednesday and said that all of Ontario mourns the loss of the officer.
“It is tragic, and it doesn’t make sense, and my heart, my prayers, my thoughts go out to the officer’s family,” she said while wiping her tears.
“As a mom, this really hits home, he is a young man and that is someone’s son, somebody’s brother, and it is a life lost,” she said.
“It doesn’t make sense and there is no reason for these types of things to happen, and it hits hard in a small community like this because we are not accustomed to these types of stories.”
McKenzie's family said they have been bombarded with hateful messages since the shooting.
They are being called "savages and trash and disgusting and that we should rot," the statement said.
"We are not horrible people.”
-- With files from Fakiha Baig and Jordan Omstead
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2022.
Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
