Not leather related but too sad to pass by

[DrmCa]

In Nov 2021 municipal police in Canada executed a search warrant in the shop of a renowned 70-year-old gunsmith, way outside of their jurisdiction. No one has seen that warrant since.

The end result was that the gunsmith was shot 4 times with a rifle while he was with a customer, inside his small workshop.

The name of the gunsmith is Roger Kotanko. He was the gunsmith of choice or the only gunsmith for many of the local customers, and he was known in the IPSC community as far as the US and the UK.

So far the family has been stonewalled by the police.

There is a Gofundme campaign to fund his civil suit for wrongful death. If you look to contribute or curious about what is known of the trajedy, just search for his last name.

As I am involved in the firearms community in Canada for the past 20 years, it strikes too close to home, especially after the 2020 gun ban and the impending confiscations that it entails. Many consider his death a targeted execution, especially because cops brought their own ambulance to the scene in advance of the shooting.

[chuck123wapati]

sure has been kept quiet on the news.

[DrmCa]

From the "official" press outlets:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/rodger-kotanko-police-shooting-1.6252238

https://globalnews.ca/news/8383288/port-dover-gunsmith-shot-dead-toronto-police/

The family's lawyer's press release:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/why-did-toronto-police-shoot-and-kill-rodger-kotanko--849245861.html

 

[chuck123wapati]

39 minutes ago, DrmCa said:

From the "official" press outlets:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/rodger-kotanko-police-shooting-1.6252238

https://globalnews.ca/news/8383288/port-dover-gunsmith-shot-dead-toronto-police/

The family's lawyer's press release:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/why-did-toronto-police-shoot-and-kill-rodger-kotanko--849245861.html

 

That is frightening! Canada has obviously started censoring a lot of news from the rest of the world.

[Handstitched]

Thats very disturbing . 

It would be interesting to know what happened to the customer? 

HS

[Matt S]

As others have said, it's a disquieting story with a lot of empty holes where information ought to be. I'm not one for jumping to conclusions 5 minutes after the fact but if no further details have been released 2 months later something doesn't smell right. Maybe someone saw five when there was only 2 and 2 in front of them and twitched if you see what I mean. What's the procedure for investigating a death like this? In the UK all deaths are investigated by a coroner, who then will pass any findings of potential wrongful death to a relevant law enforcement body (usually not the one involved). There's also an automatic self-referral of the police force involved to the independent police watchdog in the event of anyone getting perforated, no matter how justified.

It sounds like Mr Kotanko is a loss to the local and international communities.

I don't know what Ontario Police SOPs are but in the UK it's been standard to arrange one more ambulances ahead of time if a raid is planned where firearms are known to be present or officers with firearms are sent in. It's not the police's job to be executioner, and it could easily be one of them that gets perforated rather than the suspect. I'm not sure I'd read too much into one being present from the off.

I don't really want to get into politics here but the apparent ramp-up of anti-gun unilateralism in Canada the past few years has made me rather uncomfortable. Moving vast swathes of firearms from "non-restricted" (not registered or recorded, just possession of a general licence required AIUI) to the "verboten" list in one fell swoop is idiotic in the extreme. Not only do I disagree with the general thrust and "logic" <coughcough> behind the ban (it's the nut behind the butt which is the biggest potential danger to society IMO, not the hardware in front of it) but there's obviously going to be huge amounts of accidental or deliberate non-compliance, along with overcompliance from people who aren't quite sure what's suddenly turned from a tool or a toy into a massive legal liability. If I were minded to such things I'd cry "conspiracy" but I am a strong adherent to Hanlon's razor as a general rule so, like most bad law, I chalk it up to ignorance and unintended consequence. Mostly.

[DrmCa]

For fairness sake, police have recently released a copy of the warrant to the widow and her lawyer. It is a 28-page warrant that details how on 2 separate occasions a 1911 handgun registered to Mr. Kotanko was found during a search of a suspected criminal. Both had serial ## milled off. Police then applied for the warrant on the basis that Mr Kotanko was a gunsmith, so he probably owned a mill, and that he could benefit from selling handguns to criminals. This ignores simple truths that thousands more hobby machinists in Canada own mills, needless to say thousand factories and fabrication shops, and that a fully-tuned competition 1911 built by Mr. Kotanko fetches $7000 any time of day, so there was zero financial interest for him to sell one in a standard configuration. They also used 2x of his criminal charges from 50 years ago as justification: one for possession of cannabis and the other for having built a flintlock pistol never proven working. 50 years ago late Mr. Kotanko was 19 years old. Both charges did not prevent him from obtaining a firearms license or gunsmith license and staying above the law and perfectly compliant for 50 years. The judge just winked and signed.

[Handstitched]

So the conduct of the judge is to be questioned? Amongst others.

Lets hope the truth is revealed  and theres justice for Mr Kotanko and his family.

Peace

[Bert03241]

Can there ever be Justice? The man is gone for ever. The family grieves. No amount of money can bring him back or make the family feel better. 

[DrmCa]

14 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

No amount of money can bring him back or make the family feel better. 

The totality of the circumstances of this ordeal makes me think things about his family that I do not want to prematurely make public. I really want to be wrong about them. But you are right: his murder is the only thing that matters, but we should not forget the allegation by the family that police stole a safe with $20,000 from his shop. How's that evidence? How are his other customers' guns evidence? When they raid a drug dealer's house, they do not haul off his entire cupboards on the basis that every mug or dinner plate could have been used for making the dope. Why does Canada always apply double standards and insist on having things both ways but pretends that it is a civilized democracy?

Edited February 22, 2022 by DrmCa