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 public funeral procession is underway for an Ontario Provincial Police officer who was shot in an ambush attack last week.
Officers are walking towards the Sadlon Arena in 28-year-old Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala’s hometown of Barrie, Ont. this gloomy morning after he was shot while responding to a call for a vehicle in a ditch west of Hagersville, Ont. on Dec. 27.
A band played solemn music as dozens of members of the public stood along the roadway watching the procession.
The OPP says a private service for the officer is to start at 11 a.m. and a broadcast is to be streamed for the public in Haldimand County, where Pierzchala was based with the OPP.
Pierzchala’s family is to be joined by members of the OPP, other police services and first responders, Canadian Armed Forces members, and officials including Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Pierzchala had been with the OPP for just over a year and only hours before his death had been notified that he had passed his 10-month probation period.
Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Crystal Lyn Stewart-Sperry, 30, each face a charge of first-degree murder in Pierzchala’s death.
Police have said Pierzchala was also a former constable at the provincial legislature and a member of the Armed Forces.
He dreamt of joining the police ranks as a boy and his colleagues have remembered him as a wonderful officer with “the biggest heart of gold you could ever imagine.”
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.
