Charges dropped in shooting of baby
Officers were not aware 18-month-old was in the driver’s seat when they fired upon his father
Shortly before three OPP officers fatally shot an 18-month-old baby, police and emergency dispatchers rushed to determine whether the toddler was with his father, a man with a history of violence and mental-health issues who was armed with a gun.
“I’m still trying to confirm at this point if the child is in there,” an official says in newly released recordings, made public on Monday after Crown prosecutors withdrew charges including manslaughter and aggravated assault against three officers involved in the Nov. 26, 2020 fatal shooting of Jameson Shapiro and his father at a roadblock on a rural Kawartha Lakes highway.
The decision to withdraw the charges against Nathan Vanderheyden, Kenneth Pengelly and Grayson Cappus closes an unprecedented case — believed to be the first time in the 30-year history of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit that the watchdog had investigated the police shooting of a baby.
In a statement to the court Monday morning, Crown prosecutor Ian Bulmer said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction in the case. Newly released notes written by the officers in the hours after the shooting reveal William Shapiro — Jameson’s 33-year-old father, who’d abducted him that morning — was wielding a gun at the time of the shooting; evidence showed the officers were not aware the boy was also in the driver’s seat.
“His death was a tragic, unintended consequence of shots fired by the defendants in a genuine situation of self-defence,” Bulmer said, later adding that a coroner’s inquest might be a better venue to explore the issues raised in the tragic case.
Presented at pretrial hearings, the
“Did we confirm, does he have the son? I just — I’m not sure if we should maybe terminate it, if he’s got a child.
NATHAN VANDERHEYDEN OPP CONSTABLE DURING PURSUIT
recordings shed new light on the chaotic and confusing circumstances as officers pursued William Shapiro.
A 911 call came in at 8:49 a.m.; Shapiro — who was estranged from his family — had shown up at the home with a stolen Colt .45 handgun, telling his former spouse “he was going to kill all of them, the ‘real estate agents’ and himself,” according to an agreed statement of facts filed in court. That document also states Shapiro had mentalhealth issues that had worsened in the year before the incident, and that his use of illicit drugs “exacerbated the deterioration of his mental health.”
“The caller is indicating that the male took their two-yearold son,” a dispatcher reports at the start of the call.
“OK, just getting an update here, the child was not taken,” he adds a moment later.
An official runs Shapiro’s name. He’s flagged in the system for unpredictable behaviour — “in past, has made comments to friends and wife that he would die by suicide by police,” he says.
“If he’s unmedicated, he is very very unpredictable,” another officer notes.
Updates come in. Shapiro is on the move, driving a rust-coloured 2016 Toyota Tundra. Vanderheyden, among the first to respond, spots the truck in North Bobcaygeon, heading west on a rural, two-lane highway called Pigeon Lake Road.
“I’m just keeping my distance, in case he tries to fire rounds or something,” Vanderheyden said. “Did we confirm, does he have the son? I just — I’m not sure if we should maybe terminate it, if he’s got a child.”
“I’m still trying to confirm,” a dispatcher responds.
Another officer joins in the pursuit and requests clarity on whether the toddler is in the car.
“Yes, at this time, yes, the child is with the male, the child is with the male,” a dispatcher responds.
OPP Const. Chris Dobbs soon radios in, saying he’s on Pigeon Lake Road; Vanderheyden tells him police are going to need to lay down a spike belt — “Make sure you have cover,” he says to Dobbs.
As Shapiro approaches the spike belt, an official relays a message from a sergeant: “Just give (Shapiro) lots of space.”
Moments later, audio of the call captures the sound of a collision, followed by moaning. Someone radios in, “We need an ambulance right away.”
Then, seconds later: “Drop your gun, drop it, drop it, drop it, drop it.”
A barrage of shots going off can then be heard.
Then, an update.
“Child was in the vehicle.” He has no vital signs.
Soon, he is confirmed dead. The boy’s father, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, died a week later in hospital.
Evidence showed all shots fired by the police “were aimed at the driver” and nothing suggested the officers “ought to have anticipated” the child was also in the driver’s seat, Bulmer said Monday.
It was likely that a jury would conclude that the shots fired by the officers were justified, he said.
“It is clear that William Shapiro is the person who’s most responsible for the events that occurred that day.”
The officers were charged in 2022. During the prolonged investigation, the SIU took the rare step of bringing on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to perform specialized ballistic testing.
Joseph Markson, lawyer for Pengelly, said outside court that the withdrawal was the “just and right” outcome.