Jury shown text messages sent from man accused of killing OPP officer

The jury was shown text messages sent by one of the suspects accused of killing an OPP officer. CTV’s Krista Simpson reports.

Text messages sent by the man accused of fatally shooting an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer were shown in a Cayuga courtroom on Wednesday.

Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry have both been charged with the first-degree murder of OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala.

Pierzchala was shot six times while responding to a call about a vehicle in the ditch on Indian Line, near Hagersville, Ont., on the afternoon of Dec. 27, 2022.

An agreed statement of facts was read in court on Wednesday, detailing what was found on a blue Motorola phone that belonged to McKenzie.

A photo of a hand holding a gun was found on the device, as well as a video of McKenzie driving with a gun in his hand. Both the photo and the video were taken on Dec. 14, 2022, two weeks before Pierzchala was killed.

The jury also saw a text message sent on Dec. 14. It is one of many McKenzie admits he sent. It read: “I’m going to do some ATM and I’m shooting out with the cops.”

Another text from McKenzie said: “Thanks for everything but ill probably get a way again. We made spike strips and f***** the cops up last night.”

A third text read: “I’m shooting there tires this time.”

Another message from McKenzie was sent to a different contact on Dec. 20. That message said: “I can’t have love when all I can do is talk about shooting out with cops.”

While it was not said exactly who the messages were sent to, court heard it was not Stewart-Sperry.

Court also heard McKenzie did a series of searches on the phone, including many on Dec. 4, looking up pages from the Criminal Code of Canada that provided details on punishment for murder, minimum punishment and manslaughter.

Stolen property

A second agreed statement of facts was also read in court Wednesday.

The jury was told the Nissan Armada that went into the ditch on Indian Line that Pierzchala had been called to was reported as stolen in Hamilton the day before the shooting.

Police also said they found numerous other pieces of stolen property throughout the course of their investigation. Many of the items were found in a backpack seized from Stewart-Sperry during her arrest.

The judge told the jury that just because stolen property is found with the accused, it cannot be concluded McKenzie or Stewart-Sperry likely committed crimes in general, including the murder they are on trial for.

Two more witnesses, forensic officers, also took the stand. They described some of the items gathered throughout the shooting investigation. The items were later sent for forensic testing.

A Glock 19 was brought into court and shown to the jury. They were told it was the weapon that killed Pierzchala.

A black hooded ADIDAS sweater, with a hole in the centre of the front pocket, was also brought into the courtroom. It was seized from McKenzie on the day of the shooting.

The trial is expected to continue on Thursday.