A jury was shown new video of the moments leading to the arrests of two people accused of killing an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer.
The trial for Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry continued in a Cayuga courtroom on Thursday. The pair are facing first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala.
Pierzchala was shot six times while responding to a vehicle in a ditch on Indian Line near Hagersville, Ont. on the afternoon of Dec. 27, 2022.
On Thursday, the officers involved in the search for suspects and the eventual arrests of McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry took the stand.
The jury was also shown footage from an OPP helicopter that took to the skies hours after Pierzchala’s death as officers searched for the people they believed to be responsible. The helicopter was equipped with a thermal imaging camera.
Police said the camera captured the heat signatures of two people in a wooded area. The pair were initially together, but after some time the images showed the heat signatures separating.
A woman surrendered to a Six Nations Police officer shortly after. Stewart-Sperry has admitted she was that woman.
The arresting officer testified he found keys and a key fob in her coat pocket.
The focus of the ongoing search switched to the other outstanding suspect, who had been spotted in a brush area.
Police converged on the location, with three vehicles driving onto a nearby field. Shortly after, a gunshot rang out.
The footage from the camera captured a man throwing something before he emerged from the brush with his hands raised.
Randal McKenzie was then arrested.
The helicopter marked the location of the thrown object. The jury has already been told they’ll later hear how a subsequent search of the area recovered a Glock 19 handgun.
Testimony will continue tomorrow.
The trial is expected to last for six to seven weeks.
