Relatives of accused OPP shooter testify at his first-degree murder trial

Randall McKenzie’s relatives testified as the trial continues for two people accused in the fatal shooting of an OPP officer. CTV's Krista Simpson reports.

The trial of two people, accused of killing Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala, continued at a Cayuga courthouse Monday with the relatives of one of the defendants taking the stand.

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.

Court previously heard how Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry stole a truck and fled the scene after the shooting and Pierzchala’s fellow officers testified about what they experienced during their search for the suspects. A video was also shown from the arrests of McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry, who both have been charged with first-degree murder.

On Monday, court heard OnStar technology helped police locate the stolen truck at two adjoining properties on Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

Two of McKenzie’s relatives who lived there took stand and described encountering McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry while they were in a trailer or shed on the property.

Richard McKenzie, and his wife Katelyn Garlow, said they saw his brother Randall McKenzie pacing.

“Randall was walking back and forth. Frantic. Pale. Like something happened,” Garlow told the jury.

When asked if McKenzie complained about anything, she replied, “Just that he didn’t want to go back to jail.”

During cross-examination, McKenzie’s lawyer asked Garlow why her testimony was different from what she had told police the day after the shooting. The lawyer said she never mentioned Randall speaking or seeing her brother-in-law in pain, which Garlow agreed was accurate.

Garlow said she went back to the trailer later and found Stewart-Sperry alone inside, crying.

Catherine Savage, whose step-aunt was Randall’s adoptive mother, also took the stand. She was living in a home on one of the properties at the time of the shooting.

Savage described Randall coming into the home and asking for help with a car jack.

“I felt suspicious about it, so I looked out the living room window and I seen a new model of truck,” she told the court.

Surveillance footage taken from cameras on the property showed Savage leaving her home and taking cellphone videos of the truck and a tire that she believed Randall taken off the vehicle.

Savage said she asked McKenzie if the truck was stolen.

“He said, ‘No, I promise it’s not,‘” she testified.

Savage said the woman who was with Randall claimed it was hers.

The judge and lawyers will be addressing a legal issue on Tuesday, so testimony at the trial is expected continue on Wednesday.