One of accused in fatal shooting of Haldimand cop was on bail for assault charges
One of two people charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an OPP constable was already on bail for allegedly assaulting an officer in Hamilton.
Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Crystal Lyn Stewart-Sperry, 30, made a brief court appearance in Cayuga on Wednesday.
The pair were arrested Tuesday evening following a large-scale manhunt in the area of Hagersville and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28, was responding to a call for a vehicle in a ditch on Indian Line along the Credit First Nation border just after 2:30 p.m., when he was shot upon arrival," according to Const. Ed Sanchuk of the OPP.
Pierzchala was taken to West Haldimand General Hospital and later pronounced dead.
What exactly prompted the shooting - and how a seemingly routine call instead turned deadly - remains unclear.
But court documents obtained by The Hamilton Spectator shed new light on the criminal history of one of the accused.
The documents show McKenzie has been on bail since late June - about six months after he was charged with a litany of offences related to an alleged domestic-violence incident in Hamilton.
Hamilton police arrested McKenzie in early December 2021, charging him with a total of 12 assault- and firearm-related offences, according to the documents.
Three of the charges were for alleged assaults against three people - one of whom was a peace officer, court records show. Four other charges were related to the illegal possession of an unlicensed handgun.
The documents further show McKenzie was already prohibited from possessing a firearm by way of two previous court orders: one on Jan. 10, 2018, another on March 23, 2016. The Spectator has not yet seen details of those judge-approved orders.
As for Stewart-Sperry, Niagara police posted her photo in 2020 on the wanted" section of their website. She was listed as being from Thorold and was wanted for failing to comply with a release order.
In court Wednesday, McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry were both detained until a bail hearing on Jan. 17.
-With files from Tara Lindemann, The Sachem
Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com