WARMINGTON: Chilling audio of call where cops shot abducted baby

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He was speeding through the roads and stop signs at 177 km/h with his son abducted in his van while pointing a gun at his own head.

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This is what OPP officers from the Kawartha Lakes Detachment faced on Nov. 26, 2020, as William Shapiro ran along Pigeon Lake Rd. near Lindsay.

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How they handled this is up for debate and will be decided by the courts.

But audio from OPP scanners reveals the frenzy of the times the truck hit and seriously injured a police officer, gunfire erupted and Shapiro, 33, and his 18-month-old son, Jameson, were killed .

OPP officers Nathan Vanderheyden, Kenneth Pengelly and Grayson Cappus have been charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death.

Known as The Scanner Guy, Shawn Salo took to social media on Thursday to post the radio call he recorded because “the comments I read on social media were absolutely disgusting. The hatred towards the police these days is truly disturbing. These men and women risk their lives every day to protect us in times of need. »

WARNING: audio graphics

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Graphical audio reveals important details.

The first is that a dispatcher announced that there was a « kid in the car » and that a « negotiator is on standby ».

An officer is also heard saying the suspect is « pretty desperate » and had « a gun to his head ».

OPP, who knew a mother had complained to police that a boy’s father had abducted the child, placed a spiked belt on the road in an attempt to stop the vehicle who was driving too fast to endanger the public.

It is not known what the prosecuting officers heard from the dispatch or from each other.

But on the audio you can « hear the heartbreaking sounds of the officer who was struck moaning through his radio which was damaged, » Salo said, adding after he called for an ambulance and about five seconds later you you could hear officers shouting three times to ‘drop it man!, drop it!, drop it!’ (and) then shots were fired.

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The audio captures seven gunshots followed by another series of unexplained loud bangs.

“These officers had seconds to react to a situation that nearly killed another officer, they had seconds to deal with a man with a gun,” said Salo, who is an award-winning freelance journalist. .

After nearly two years, the SIU announced the charges which further traumatized the already traumatized officers involved and shook the entire policing community, which will closely watch future proceedings as a barometer of what the police are supposed to do, and what not to do, in such a context. dire set of circumstances.

« It’s easy to sit here two years later and say this and that, but the truth is that these officers only had seconds to react to this situation, as you can hear in the recording. « Salo said.

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There will be many questions to answer when this case finally comes to court.

What information did officers have when deciding use their lethal force option? What was the position of the suspect’s weapon when told to drop it? Was he fired? Were the agents trying to eliminate a threat so they could reach the child in the wrecked truck? Which bullets killed Jameson?

But what cannot be lost, as OPPA President Rob Stinson pointed out, is that these officers did not go out as a team to shoot a child – they were trying to save him.

It was the father who caused this deadly situation by abducting a child, driving dangerously, pointing a gun and seriously injuring a police officer with his truck.

The officers were in a no-win situation no matter what decisions they made.

Now they could end up in jail.

jwarmington@postmedia.com