Charges dropped against Ontario cops in shooting death of toddler

All criminal charges have been dropped against three Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers who were accused in a deadly 2020 police shooting that killed a father and toddler in Kawartha Lakes, Ont.

An armed William Shapiro, 33, abducted his child on Nov. 26, 2020, in a Toyota Tundra truck, sending officers on a chase that ultimately led to the fatal shooting of both the father and 18-month-old Jameson Shapiro.

The responding officers fired a barrage of 45 shots at the truck when it finally came to a halt after colliding with an OPP vehicle, court heard Monday.

Jameson was killed at the scene. His father was taken to hospital where he died on Dec. 2, less than a week later.

Three OPP constables Nathan Vanderheyden, Kenneth Pengelly and Grayson Cappus faced one count each of manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm with intent and aggravated assault, in relation to the boy's death.

But the Crown withdrew those charges in an Oshawa court on Monday. The decision came after a preliminary hearing into the high-profile shooting came to a close. In total, 12 witnesses were called by the Crown from Dec. 15, 2023 until Jan. 8 this year.

The three officers were also initially each charged with one count of criminal negligence causing death, but that charge was previously dropped as it was found redundant, Crown attorney Ian Bulmer said to the packed courtroom.

"What happened on [that day] was terrible, dangerous and a traumatic event for everyone involved," Bulmer said.

Bulmer said the Crown had no evidence to disprove the officers' version of events that they fired their weapons in self-defence, therefore there was no reasonable prospect of conviction in the case.

The Crown's decision was based on information contained within the officers' notes.

Bulmer said the officers made the notes independently prior to consulting lawyers and before their exposure to any evidence in the case, including radio communications and other witness statements.

The officers had not previously released their notes during the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation that led to the criminal charges, "as was their legal right," said SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon in an email.

Toddler seated in father's lap when officers opened fire

During his address to the court, Bulmer said that Jameson sustained four gunshot wounds, including a wound to the back of the base of his skull, which rapidly caused his death.

Both father and son were in the driver's seat of the car at the time of the shooting, the Crown said. No evidence suggests the officers ought to have anticipated Jameson was seated in his father's lap, he added.

Vanderheyden fired a total of 25 shots, Cappus fired 17 times and Pengelley shot three times, court heard during the preliminary hearing.

The officers did not engage in a "panicked, haphazard discharge" of their firearms, Bulmer said, as they were all aimed and directed toward the driver.

During the preliminary hearing, court heard that police responded to reports of a child who had been abducted from his mother's family home.

Officers followed the truck, trying to intercept it along Pigeon Lake Road and eventually guiding it toward a spike belt with the driver, Shapiro, maintaining about 170 kilometres per hour.

The Crown said Vanderheyden saw Shapiro pointing a handgun at his own head while speeding, before colliding with an OPP vehicle. Const. Chris Dobbs, who had deployed the spike belt to deflate the truck's tires, was left with critical injuries as a result.

When Vanderheyden went up to the truck, he saw Shapiro's gun still in hand, the Crown said. He gave "multiple commands" to get the armed father to drop his weapon and show his hands, to which Shapiro responded with "f--k you" each time, Bulmer said.

Prior to opening fire, Vanderheyden sought confirmation from dispatch about whether the abducted child was in the truck at the time. But not all officers involved in the dispatch call were made aware that the toddler was confirmed to be in the truck, Bulmer noted.

Communications were chaotic as officers attempted to confirm whether a child was in the truck before the shooting, a radio transmissionrecording shows.

In the recording, made publicly available on Monday, officials can be heard going back and forth on whether Jameson is in the speeding vehicle.

"Does he have the son?" Vanderheyden asks at one point. "I'm not sure if we should maybe terminate it, if he's got a child. If not, then I can continue."

Later into the call, it is confirmed to the units that the toddler is in the vehicle.

As Dobbs and Cappus prepare to deploy the spike belt, Vanderheyden warns Cappus that the driver is "pretty desperate."

"He had a gun to his head. Just make sure if he tries to go straight into your cruiser or something, just make sure you've got some sort of cover, buddy," Vanderheyden said.

The collision can also be heard on the recording, followed by moaning attributed to Dobbs in the transcript.

"Drop your gun, drop it, drop it, drop it," several voices can be heard shouting.

Several gunshots follow the commands. "We need a f--king ambulance here," an unknown voice said.

Officers can then be heard saying that a child has been found in the car without vital signs.

Leading up to the collision, the officers knew that Shapiro had abducted his child, was armed, making suicidal gestures and driving at "incredibly high speeds," he said.

The Crown said Shapiro had also made a sharp turn that resulted in the "catastrophically violent collision" that injured Dobbs.

Taken with Shapiro's unwillingness to drop his firearm, the collision supported the officers' concerns that Shapiro was prepared to grievously injure or kill responding police officers, the Crown said.

"It is clear that William Shapiro is the person that is most responsible for the events that occurred that day," Bulmer said Monday.

Bulmer said the evidence gathered established that Jameson died as a result of at least one police-fired bullet. However, the toddler's death was a "tragic, unintended consequence of shots fired by the defendants in a genuine situation of self-defence," he said.

WATCH | OPP speaks after charges dropped:

OPP speaks after charges dropped against 3 officers in toddler's shooting death

2 months ago

Duration 0:46

All criminal charges have been dropped against three Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers in relation to a deadly shooting in 2020 that killed a father and toddler. Outside an Oshawa court where the Crown withdrew those charges Monday, OPP Sgt. Jason Folz called the shooting "a horrible tragedy" and those involved in it have been "affected and changed forever."

The Crown prosecutor said a coroner's inquest, which is set to take place, would be a "much better" forum to examine the issues of a lack of co-ordination and communication in the OPP's immediate response in this case.

Bulmer said the inquest could mitigate the likelihood of a similar tragedy from happening in the future.

In an email, Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner said that an inquest is mandatory in this case as there was police involvement.

"The Office of the Chief Coroner has not scheduled the inquest yet as there were potential criminal proceedings. With those withdrawn, we will be looking at potential dates when an inquest can be scheduled," wrote Julia Noonan, a manager in the coroner's office.

Officers were 'doing their job,' says police association

Ontario Provincial Police Association president John Cerasuolo called it a correct and just decision.

"In this case it has been determined that on the totality of the evidence there was no reasonable prospect of conviction," Cerasuolo said in a written statement.

"Our officers were doing their job according to their training."

The police watchdog had said evidence suggested police gunfire killed both Jameson and his father, but charges were only brought against the officers in Jameson's death. The three officers were charged two years after the shooting. The agency attributed the delay in part to the time it took to get the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's forensic test results on some of the ballistic evidence.

The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General did not immediately return a request for comment.

Harry Black, defence lawyer for Cappus, said the officers made their notes immediately after they returned from hospital, where they were taken after the shooting.

Black said he normally does not advise officers to release their notes "in the first instance," as is consistent with their right to remain silent and the Crown's responsibility to prove their case.

OPP Sgt. Jason Folz welcomed the withdrawals, speaking at a news conference outside the court.

"It's a sombre moment for us, it's not any kind of celebration," Folz said.