Ontario Provincial Police expected to announce charges into fatal shooting of officer

Charges are expected to be announced today regarding a police investigation into a shooting that left an Ontario Provincial Police officer dead in southwest Ontario.

OPP say Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala of the Haldimand County detachment was shot just after 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday while responding to a vehicle in a ditch just west of Hagersville, Ont.

O-P-P Commissioner Thomas Carrique says Pierzchala had been notified earlier in the day that he had passed his 10-month probation period.

Carrique says the 28-year-old officer was previously a special constable at Queen’s Park and had been with the provincial police force for just over a year.

The force says two suspects, a 25-year-old male and a 30-year-old female, were arrested and no other suspects are at large.

Provincial police had issued an emergency alert just before 6 p.m. advising all area residents to remain in place, which was cancelled after the suspects were arrested.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2022.