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A Stratford man charged with second-degree murder in a woman’s shooting death also is accused of manufacturing a handgun, court records show.
Emergency crews called to 575 Ontario St. about 5 a.m. Tuesday took a 35-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to hospital, where died, Stratford police said.
Keith Daniel Savil, 41, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Kassidy Ballantyne-Holmes, the city’s second homicide of the year.
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Savil, whose home address is listed as the Ontario Street home where Ballantyne-Holmes was found shot, also is charged with possessing a gun without a licence, carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence and manufacturing a firearm without authorization.
The weapon involved in all the offences is a handgun, the documents say.
“One firearm . . . was recovered at the scene,” Stratford police spokesperson Const. Aaron Mounfield said.
Homemade guns, also known as “ghost guns,” have been used in crime across Southwestern Ontario in recent years. The devices, typically made using 3-D printers, can be bought online or assembled at home and are favoured by criminals because they don’t have serial numbers or other factors police can trace.
Mounfield, who declined to specify the relationship between Savil and Ballantyne-Holmes, called the shooting an isolated incident.
“There’s no concern for public safety,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Ballantyne-Holmes also lived at the Ontario Street house. Court documents in a separate possession of stolen property case from July list her as of no fixed address.
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Savil appeared in court Tuesday and was remanded in custody pending an appearance Thursday.
Gun violence in Stratford is rare, but this is the second fatal shooting in the city in the last three months.
On Aug. 1, Ricky Bilcke, 31, went on a shooting spree on Bradshaw Drive, killing Johnny Bennett, 36, and seriously injuring Bennett’s girlfriend Stephanie Irvine, 37, and David Tokley, 43, before turning his gun on himself.
Investigators determined the murder-suicide – Stratford’s first slaying since 2005 – was the result of an “ongoing neighbour dispute” and Bilcke was armed with a shotgun, high-powered rifle and handgun during the attack. All the weapons were legally registered, police said.
With files from Cory Smith
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