This story is the second in a two-part series on the Glock 19 handgun used to kill OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala and how cheap, legally purchased U.S. weapons are fuelling a Canadian epidemic. Part 1 told the story of convicted American gun runner Cynthia Solano, in her own words.
HAGERSVILLE, Ont.鈥擮n Dec. 27, 2022, around 2:30 p.m., OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala responded to a routine call for a vehicle in a ditch just west of this small, rural town.
Once there, he activated the body-worn camera attached to his vest and approached Randall McKenzie and his girlfriend, Brandi Stewart-Sperry.
鈥淕uys, I鈥檓 giving you a heads up 鈥 my body cam is on, so everything is audio and visual recorded, OK?鈥 Pierzchala told the pair, who鈥檇 been on a crime spree and were wanted by police.
Moments later, the camera captured Pierzchala鈥檚 death.
With no warning, McKenzie, his tattooed face buried in a black hoodie, pulled out a Glock 19 handgun. To the shock and horror of a pair of good Samaritans who had pulled over, he pulled the trigger six times as the camera .
Pierzchala鈥檚 own Glock handgun remained untouched in the ambush.
Const. Greg Pierzchala鈥檚 body camera footage. Shooter Randall McKenzie and his girlfriend Brandi Stewart-Sperry, in the red and black blanket, were each convicted of first-degree murder.
Ontario Superior Court exhibitIn their attempt to explain the senselessness of the murder at McKenzie鈥檚 trial earlier this year, prosecutors told court that rather than surrender to police, McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry worked as a team to 鈥渆liminate the threat presented to them by Pierzchala.鈥
As the officer lay by the side of the road, the couple sped away and went to the nearby McKenzie family compound. Realizing police were closing in, they fled into the woods.
After a massive manhunt, the pair was arrested about four hours later.
Glock聽No. BBF797US, as it was found.
Ontario Superior Court ExhibitDuring the arrest, a thermal imaging camera inside an OPP helicopter captured McKenzie throwing a small object in the air; police recovered the Glock handgun resting on the snow.
And on a thin metal plate under the muzzle, it bore the serial No. BBF797US.
There is no way to know how exactly how many of the hundreds of guns smuggled to the border by Arizona mom Cynthia Solano have been used to maim and kill Canadians 鈥 but the impact of this one weapon couldn鈥檛 be more clear: Earlier this spring, on the evening of April 24 in Cayuga, Ont., a jury after a trial with overwhelming evidence. McKenzie denied he was the killer, but his claim was up against the officer鈥檚 video, text messages sent by McKenzie鈥檚 phone, indicating he envisioned 鈥渟hooting out with the cops,鈥 and DNA evidence recovered from the Glock.
Pierzchala鈥檚 family declined the Star鈥檚 request for an interview for this story. Still, much is known about the officer who was laid to rest in front of thousands of officers in his hometown of Barrie, Ont., in January 2023. He was a young man with high standards and his priorities straight: health, faith, education and above all family. He loved art, gardening, and reading literature, and was the kind of guy who would buy his mother flowers after a 12-hour shift and two-hour workout, his adoring brother and sister told the service.
Meanwhile, McKenzie had a history of violence, was on a lifetime weapons ban and was out on bail for serious charges. It鈥檚 unclear when, where and from whom McKenzie took possession of the Glock 19 after it crossed the border 鈥 209 days from when it was legally purchased in Flagstaff, Ariz., by a man who bought another weapon Solano drove to waiting truckers on the Michigan side of the Canadian border. But McKenzie鈥檚 home turf of Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations is a relatively quick detour for a gun runner travelling from Windsor to the GTA along Highway 401.
Both he and Stewart-Sperry were sentenced to life in prison with no chance at parole for 25 years.
Asked about the impact of Pierzchala鈥檚 murder, the OPP released a short statement: 鈥淭his has been an incredibly challenging period for Provincial Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala鈥檚 family, the members of the OPP and their loved ones 鈥 Pierzchala was a committed officer who served with courage and integrity. His loss continues to be felt by the entire policing community.鈥
The parents (right) and family members of OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala at his funeral in Barrie.
Frank Gunn THE CANADIAN PRESSCynthia Solano鈥檚 last trip
On Dec. 29, 2022, two days after McKenzie killed Pierzchala, Cynthia Solano hit the highway in her Chevy Tahoe with one of her sons, leaving Arizona en route to Michigan with a load of guns.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to make it in three days,鈥 she wrote in a text message to a friend. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a holiday, I鈥檓 not trying to speed because there鈥檚 cops everywhere.鈥 As Solano tells it 鈥 if you believe her 鈥 she kept gun running because she remained under the spell of GTA criminal Syed Zaidi, her duplicitous lover who was now behind bars in 海角社区官网after being caught with dozens of U.S.-bought handguns.
In the back compartment of her SUV were five suitcases packed with 87 handguns wrapped like Christmas presents. Like most of the hundreds of guns Solano had smuggled to the Canadian border over the past 10 months, these were Arizona guns, bought legally in a state that has among America鈥檚 least restrictive gun laws.
Some of the 87 gift-wrapped handguns recovered from Solano’s SUV.
Still, she kept them lightly disguised in gun-shaped packages 鈥 some bearing 鈥淔eliz Navidad鈥 in festive red script, others with snowmen in ice cream cones.聽
In on-and-off interviews with the Star over the last two years, Solano has spoken about her actions and motivations in detail, sometimes boasting about her prowess as a trafficker, other times casting herself as a victim of Zaidi, the man she says recruited her into the trade.
As she and her son drove through Springfield, Ill., on Jan. 3, 2023, Solano told the Star she felt there was something wrong with a tire, and pulled over on the side of the road to see what was wrong. An Illinois state police trooper soon approached her vehicle.
Ultimately, it appears her arrest was a genuine fluke. Solano maintains she was racially profiled and the search was illegal. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said there was no evidence of racial profiling; the issue was never tested in court.
While Solano was on law enforcement鈥檚 radar, the ATF鈥檚 special agent Brendan Iber told the Star investigators didn鈥檛 know she was transporting firearms that day. It was 鈥渆arly鈥 in the investigation, he said. The Illinois state trooper 鈥渒ind of blew this case open.鈥
After 海角社区官网police arrested Zaidi in May 2022, as part of Project Barbell, investigators established the majority of the firearms traced back to the first known purchasers in Arizona 鈥 including the man who bought the Pierzchala murder weapon on June 1, 2022. ATF agents contacted those individuals and most said they sold them privately 鈥 which is not illegal and where buyers aren鈥檛 subject to background checks. Gun control advocates call this the 鈥済un show loophole鈥; the buyers were never charged.
Cynthia Solano was a law-abiding American mom of four when she met a convicted killer from Scarborough. She says love turned her into a gun smuggler.
Cynthia Solano was a law-abiding American mom of four when she met a convicted killer from Scarborough. She says love turned her into a gun smuggler.
Still, during the latter half of 2022, police in 海角社区官网were puzzled. Zaidi was behind bars. Why were guns from Arizona still being sold in the GTA to undercover officers and showing up at crime scenes?
Solano was the answer. The flow of weapons ultimately stopped in January 2023 with Solano in custody in the Sangamon County jail in Illinois. Her jailhouse photo shows a raven-haired woman wearing a flowery top with bags under her sad eyes.
Syed Zaidi, seen left on a fake Arizona driver’s licence seized from Solano’s home and right with his wife Syeda Maryam Tirmizi in a photograph presented in court.
Soon after, on Feb. 21, 2023, ATF agents went to her Arizona home. They found a high-speed bill counting machine, paper records that included the phone numbers of suspected gun sellers and possible firearm ledgers, and a fake Arizona driver鈥檚 licence with Zaidi鈥檚 photo.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Zaidi pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking in connection to the 62 guns found at his mother鈥檚 apartment. A judge imposed a hefty 15-year sentence while charges against Zaidi鈥檚 mother, brother and wife, Syeda Maryam Tirmizi, were dropped.
Zaidi declined the Star鈥檚 interview request, made through Corrections Canada.
The Star also tried to contact Tirmizi about this story and Zaidi鈥檚 relationship with Solano. Tirmizi鈥檚 older sister, who acted as a surety after her arrest in May 2022, said she had never heard of Solano and would relay the information to her sister. A day later, she sent a text message saying Tirmizi didn鈥檛 want to be interviewed.
鈥楾his is not where I am supposed to be鈥
In April 2023, at 海角社区官网police headquarters, U.S. and Canada law enforcement representatives and border officials announced the results of another joint forces firearm and drug trafficking investigation, this time called Project MoneyPenny. It led to the arrest of 44 people, some for selling聽smuggled Arizona guns to undercover officers. (Many of the accused have since pleaded guilty, said Erin Pancer, the Crown attorney in charge of MoneyPenny prosecutions.)聽
That month at an Ottawa crime forum, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland , adding that the Biden administration was using 鈥渆very tool at our disposal鈥 to disrupt gun trafficking networks. (It remains to be seen if the Trump administration will follow through on that commitment, especially since the U.S. president has .)
Back in Phoenix, Solano was released on home detention over the objections of prosecutor Matthew Conti, who called her a flight risk. He was right. One early summer morning, Solano 鈥 she told the Star her heart was pounding 鈥 used meat shears to cut off her electronic ankle bracelet.
It 鈥渟tarted lighting up making crazy loud alarm noise,鈥 she recalled; she rounded up her kids and fled to Mexico.
It鈥檚 because Solano took the unusual step of corresponding with a journalist over two years that the Star can offer a rare insight into the workings of the criminal underworld. For months as a fugitive, Solano says she and her kids lived a glorious life; God had given her a fresh start.
But U.S. Marshals cut that short in November 2023. She was brought back to the States where she鈥檚 been in custody ever since.
Asked why she cut and ran, Solano explained: 鈥淢y life depended on it.鈥
Ultimately, after lengthy negotiations between her lawyer and the U.S. District Attorney鈥檚 office, Solano pleaded guilty last August to just two charges: conspiracy to commit money laundering and possessing a machine gun, because her arsenal included a 鈥淕lock switch鈥 鈥 a device that can convert a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon.
Cynthia Solano.
Her plea agreement states that between March 2022 and January 2023, Solano purchased firearms from private sellers in Arizona and transported them to Michigan, so that they could be subsequently smuggled into Canada where they were later sold. In all, US$89,997 ended up either in her bank account or wired to other associates.
This past January, Solano鈥檚 sentencing hearing was held inside the Sandra Day O鈥機onnor United States Courthouse in downtown Phoenix. Outside the Hong Kong Orchid trees鈥 vibrant purplish red flowers were in full bloom. Inside, she was a mess.
The chain cinching a red jumpsuit at her waist jangled as she shuffled to the podium. 鈥淓very day I have to get up and look at myself and I鈥檓 ashamed of where I鈥檓 at, at my age. This is not where I am supposed to be,鈥 she said, pleading with Judge G. Murray Snow to show leniency.聽
Her lawyer, Matthew Leathers, asked the court to sentence her to time served, noting Zaidi鈥檚 鈥渆xtensive coercive control鈥 of his client.
But Conti 鈥 the same district attorney who opposed Solano鈥檚 release on bail 鈥 argued a seven-year sentence was justified. She was part of an organization that made 鈥済uns available to people who frankly, should never, ever have them,鈥 he said 鈥 including the man who shot and killed OPP officer Greg Pierzchala, he told the judge.
鈥淭hese organizations feast on people who have no criminal history, who are able to obtain guns.鈥
The judge agreed that a seven-year sentence fit the crime.
鈥淲hat you did was pretty horrible,鈥 he told Solano, who appeared stunned in court. 鈥淵ou engaged in a systemic, extensive operation, causing danger and suffering to many of our neighbours in Canada.鈥
Speaking to the Star outside court, Rennee DeSaye 鈥 a private investigator hired by the defence to prepare a report on Solano鈥檚 background 鈥 dejectedly echoed the narrative her subject had told the Star over the previous two years.
Zaidi 鈥渒new what he was doing when he targeted her,鈥澛燚eSaye said, walking to her vehicle.
鈥淗e knew what he was doing as soon as he got inside her mind and what was going on with her family. Like a sickness, he took hold, from the inside, of her.鈥
Sleeping with the elephant
What can be done about our gun problem?
Canadian laws have gradually expanded handgun regulations and restricted handgun use, leading to a national freeze on their sale, purchase or transfer in 2022.
But the use of handguns to cause personal injury and death continues to be a grim reality in Toronto. Earlier this month, 29-year-old Jahwayne Smart, who is on trial downtown for the first-degree murder of a 12-year-old boy killed by a stray bullet, told a jury he started carrying a gun when he was 14. The reality is that 鈥測oung kids鈥 are carrying firearms with extended magazines designed to fire more bullets, Smart told the court.
It was fight or flight, gunman Jahwayne Smart explained in court on Tuesday. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to kill or hurt nobody, I just wanted to scare them.鈥
It was fight or flight, gunman Jahwayne Smart explained in court on Tuesday. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to kill or hurt nobody, I just wanted to scare them.鈥
And he too used a Glock 19 handgun when, back in 2020, he and his cousin opened fire on a car of teenagers for reasons unknown, killing the boy on a nearby sidewalk. (Smart鈥檚 trial continues; he has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defence and saying he opened fire after a man flashed a handgun. Two others are also on trial.)
These days, when politicians and police discuss how to curb firearm smuggling and trafficking, the focus invariably shifts to border security and what can be done to tighten it up.
What, if any, impact Canadian border measures can have in the face of American gun laws is a more difficult question.
Ioan Grillo, a Mexican-based journalist and author of 鈥 a 2021 book about the black market for firearms, told the Star in 2023 that he doubts there鈥檚 much Canada can do, 鈥渦nless you really want to start shutting down the Canada-U. S. border and searching everybody and every vehicle going through.鈥
For decades, Mexico has had to contend with the 鈥渋ron river鈥 that connects the legal U.S. gun market to murderous criminal organizations led by the likes of Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzm谩n, of the Sinaloa Cartel. Firearms are not the only factor behind the violence, but across the Americas, the gun black market is thriving in tandem with crime groups, he writes in his book. 鈥淭he gun shows of Texas lead to the crime scenes of Honduras, the gun shops of Georgia to the corners of Baltimore, the gun factories of Germany to the mass graves of Mexico.鈥
The role of law enforcement, he told the Star, is to find ways to reduce the scope of the problem, 鈥 to try and ensure 鈥渢hat very violent criminals shouldn鈥檛 have easy access to very powerful firearms.鈥
On this point, Solano laughed. 鈥淭hey can never curb or end smugglers,鈥 she told the Star in 2023. 鈥淭he money is there and money buys everything.鈥
She also questions the commitment of U.S. and Canadian authorities to crack down on gun smuggling. Otherwise, she asks, why has the U.S. not gone after Zaidi, her partner in crime, the man she once considered her 鈥渒night in shining armour,鈥 and others involved in the operation?
Iber, of the ATF, acknowledged that investigators believe that Zaidi was still facilitating the buying and selling of guns even after he was locked up 鈥 using Solano as the facilitator 鈥渢o purchase these firearms, and then transport them up to the Detroit area.鈥
Will he be charged?
鈥淚t鈥檚 still an open case,鈥 Iber told the Star in February of this year. 鈥淭he U.S. District Attorney鈥檚 office would have to make that decision.鈥
(Perhaps ironically, Solano is arguably herself an example of the failure to crack down on the gun trade. Ultimately, U.S. authorities declined to pursue convictions on all but one of the gift-wrapped guns she was shipping to the border. Convicted on just two charges and sentenced to a relatively light prison term 鈥 by the standards of the U.S. justice system 鈥 those who feel Solano played a central role in the death of a beloved Ontario cop are unlikely to feel satisfied.)
After Pierzchala鈥檚 murder, senior police leaders within the OPP voiced hope for a strong response to a heinous crime committed against one of their own. Perhaps those responsible for bringing the gun into Ontario could be held responsible. But, despite their calls, the matter gained little traction and ultimately went nowhere; with the trial of McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry now over, there is little chance Solano or Zaidi will ever face charges in Pierzchala鈥檚 murder.
Killer Randall McKenzie with Glock No. BBF797US.
Ontario Superior Court ExhibitThere is precedent for trying.
In 2021, 海角社区官网police took the novel step of charging a convicted gun smuggler with criminal negligence causing death after a 19-year-old was killed by a gun purchased in Florida. That attempt failed. In 2023, a 海角社区官网judge agreed the importation was a significant contributing cause of the young man鈥檚 death, but found the chain of causation was broken and it, therefore, would be unjust to hold the trafficker accountable for the death.
But while arrests and prosecutions are needed, they alone aren鈥檛 an effective strategy, says Jonathan Lowy, founder and president of Global Action on Gun Violence. His Washington, D.C.,-based non-profit has an international focus with a goal 鈥渢o stop the gun industry鈥檚 negligent business practices鈥 by suing U.S. gun manufacturers.
The international drug trade doesn鈥檛 stop when police are catching lower-level criminals and 鈥渢hrowing them in prison for a long time,鈥 he noted.
He has helped win more than $100 million in verdicts and settlements for victims of gun violence and is acting as foreign counsel in the first-of-its-kind class action suit against Smith & Wesson over the design of a weapon used in the 2019 mass shooting on The Danforth in Toronto.
鈥淵ou have to go to the top of the food chain if you want to stop the crime gun pipeline.鈥
Last year, a 海角社区官网judge denied certification 鈥 ending the lawsuit. An appeal was heard in December. The decision has been under reserve for about six months.
Meanwhile, those trying to address gun violence by turning to American courts south of the border have had varying success.
Perhaps most notably, in 2022, the families of nine Sandy Hook school shooting victims , ending a seven-year legal battle over the gunmaker鈥檚 marketing practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule next month on the Mexican government鈥檚 lawsuit against various U.S. gun manufacturers who are accused of putting tens of thousands of guns into the hands of drug cartels.
Despite a range of proposed solutions to gun smuggling, Solano has this response: as long as there is demand, there will be supply. And until the roots of that demand are addressed 鈥 poverty, addiction, inequality 鈥 trafficking will remain not just a crime, but a business.
鈥淲e have to be realistic,鈥 she wrote in one email.
鈥淲e do not live in a world that will ever be crime-free. If the government really cared about our safety then they would change a lot of things. They鈥檙e the ones causing all the issues I鈥檓 sick and tired of the government blaming everybody else besides themselves.鈥
The Star has not had contact with Solano since watching her led out of a Phoenix courtroom in January.
She is now in prison.
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