Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala is shown in a handout photo. A private funeral is set to be held this morning for Const. Pierzchala, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shot dead in an "ambush" attack last week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Ontario Provincial Police **MANDATORY CREDIT**
BARRIE, Ont. – A funeral is underway for an Ontario Provincial Police officer who was shot in an ambush last week in a county on the Niagara Peninsula.
Hundreds of officers from across the province joined 28-year-old Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala’s family for his funeral at the Sadlon Arena, in his hometown of Barrie, Ont., as rain poured outside on the gloomy Wednesday morning.
Police have said the officer was killed after he responded to a call for a vehicle in a ditch west of Hagersville, Ont., on Dec. 27 and two people have been charged with first-degree murder.
A Canadian flag was raised and several members of the public watched a police motorcade as it reached the arena at the end of a procession before the private funeral began at 11 a.m.
Officers were asked to remove their peaked caps as Pierzchala’s casket was carried to the front of the arena at the start of the ceremony.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is in attendance.
Police have said Pierzchala had been a provincial officer for just over a year and had been notified hours before his death that he had passed his 10-month probation period.
Pierzchala was also formerly a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and a constable at the provincial legislature.
He dreamt of joining the police ranks as a boy and his colleagues have remembered him as a wonderful officer with a big heart made of gold.
Court documents show 25-year-old Randall McKenzie, one of two people accused of the attack on Pierzchala, had been denied bail in an unrelated case involving a number of assault and weapons charges months before the shooting, but was released after a review.
A warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to show up for a court date in August, the documents show.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2023.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
