Dramatic footage of a beloved É«É«À² police dog’s final moments were played in a courtroom Friday as the man who fatally shot another man — and killed a German shepherd named Bingo — entered guilty pleas for five offences, including manslaughter and wilfully killing an animal.
Sgt. Brandon Smith, whose body-worn camera captured the search shown on court monitors, looked on grimly from the witness box, while his wife and about a dozen colleagues from the É«É«À² Police Dog Service’s unit sat in the courtroom watching, several in tears.
From the video room at the É«É«À² South Detention Centre, the defendant, Kenneth Grant, could also watch what had unfolded.Â
It was early evening July 25, 2023 — still daylight — when Bingo leapt from the police van parked near Dixon Road and Kipling Avenue in the city’s west end. He led Smith in the direction of a fleeing suspect who, moments earlier, fired multiple shots in the direction of the police officer trying to arrest him for the shooting death of his daughter’s boyfriend. The officer ducked behind a vehicle and was uninjured.
By then, members of the K9 unit and Emergency Task Force had arrived, and were also on the hunt for Grant, combing the streets and residential backyards.
But the footage in court stayed fixed on Bingo, the camera trailing Smith’s black gloved hand wrapped around a long, lead attached to the dog, who careered around corners, picking up the scent of the man on the run.
“Has anyone else been in your backyard?” calls out a voice, presumably Smith’s, the sound of a dog barking in the background.
Soon, the pair approach a wooded area behind a backyard fence. “He wants to go off in the woods there,” says the voice, while Bingo disappears. “There’s a skunk around somewhere, too.”
Suddenly, shots ring out.
“Bingo come, Bingo, Bingo,” followed by an expletive. As other officers close in on the suspect telling him to “drop the gun,” a distraught Smith calls for help.
“I need the medics, my dog’s down.”
Prosecutor Alice Bradstreet stopped the recording from playing further in court.
Smith told Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell it’s difficult to describe the bond that exists between a canine and handler.
The canine officer died from a gunshot wound while searching for a suspect with a gun in É«É«À²â€™s west end on July 25.
The canine officer died from a gunshot wound while searching for a suspect with a gun in É«É«À²â€™s west end on July 25.
People with pets will “sort of understand,” he said, but the connection goes deep when a dog not only served the community, but “protected me.”
His wife, Heather Smith, told court Bingo’s loss has taken an emotional toll on their entire family.
Bradstreet provided context on the events leading up to the chase and its conclusion.
Grant’s daughter had been in a stormy, on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Sophonias Haile, who physically assaulted her and threatened her with a firearm in June that year. She refused to identify him to police, but Grant knew what had happened.
On July 24, 2023, the pair argued and she repeatedly told Haile to leave. Grant, then 44, showed up at her condo with another man, and a fight broke out between the men. Both Grant and Haile were armed.
Grant discharged his gun in Haile’s direction four times, hitting him once in the head. Haile, 24, died at the scene.
Grant fled, and the next night police showed up at an apartment complex where he was loading his personal belongings into his BMW. He also had his passport, Bradstreet said reading from an agreed statement of facts.
A plainclothes officer approached Grant, who fired multiple shots at him and missed. Soon after the K9 unit and ETF officers showed up.
After Grant shot Bingo in the face, officers fired shots at him. He sustained to two gunshot wounds to his lower body and was taken to hospital.
Haile’s sister and aunt provided victim-impact statements expressing their profound loss at the young man’s death.
Grant also pleaded guilty Friday to discharging a prohibited weapon to prevent arrest, discharge a firearm recklessly and illegally possessing a loaded firearm. His manslaughter plea was reduced from second-degree murder.
The prosecution and defence are jointly recommending Grant receive a 14-year prison sentence. The judge will decide next week.Â
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