Randall McKenzie was out on bail when he allegedly squeezed the trigger and fired at rookie OPP Const. Const. Grzegorz “Greg” Pierzchala outside Hagersville on Tuesday.
Two bullets reportedly hit the 28-year-old officer and he died a short time later in the hospital.
McKenzie’s co-accused, Brandi Sperry, 30, was also out on bail.
Across the country in Alberta, a Calgary man accused of second-degree murder in a Christmas Day shooting was out on bail at the time for an armed heist in Saskatchewan.
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Yosief Hagos, 22, is accused of killing Samuel Welday Haile, 24, early last Sunday. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for Hagos’ arrest. He is, of course, considered armed and dangerous.
More?
How about the man accused of first-degree murder in the slaying of Brandon Baxandall, 29, in Saskatoon on May 19? Mohamed Abdula Ali was sprung on bail on Dec. 16.
Baxandall’s family was outraged, particularly since a second accused remains at large.
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Elsewhere, a 17-year-old Dartmouth boy accused of attempted murder in a shooting that injured two younger boys has also been sprung. Finally, there is Hilah Rose McCauley charged with attempted murder stemming from a shooting in Yellowknife.
She’s been released into the small community of Colville Lake, N.W.T. There is no police there, nor is there any type of supervision.
A noted Toronto criminal lawyer — who asked not to be identified because of the nature of his work —unpacks for The Toronto Sun why this is happening. First off, it is about money.
“Historically it was much more difficult to get bail, but then it seemed like too many inmates were sitting waiting in custody to get to trial,” the lawyer told the Sun.
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The legal eagle said that like corrections, there is — theoretically — a sliding scale where getting bail gets tougher with each offence and its severity.
He noted that — again, theoretically — for violent offences the accused needs a “very tight plan of release” and a “viable defence.”
“It’s hard to get someone bail for discharging a firearm. Possession is another story and not as difficult to get bail — bail for gun possession is very common because often it is hard to prove the person is in direct possession of the gun, unless the gun is found directly on your person,” the lawyer said.
A massive part of the problem of bail can be pinned on illegal guns.
“It’s too easy for criminals now to get guns — easily accessible from the USA, they don’t cost very much and gangsters hand them around so that they’re used by multiple people in multiple crimes,” he said.
“And this is the key — these people that end up killing people rarely if ever start off hitting a home run and murdering someone.
“The real problem is guns — they can’t do anything to stop them … and in Canada, for illegal possession of a gun, it’s two-and-a-half to four years and usually three. So you serve maybe two years at most and usually only one year and a couple of months. There’s no disincentive.”
He added: “That is until you kill someone.”
And the murder of Const. Pierzchala is just the latest incident highlighting the risk cops face when they encounter such repeat offenders.
“Some dumb street-living drug dealer and his girlfriend have a wad of cash from selling drugs and have a gun to facilitate their shitty little drug operation,” he said.
“Probably going from motel to motel selling and using and then boom … a cop comes along and the piece of garbage who’s been on a firearm possession before relies on instincts and zero intelligence and the cop is dead for no reason.”
The lawyer added: “So the public, they have every right to ask … ‘How is this a–hole still out there?'”
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