Man pleads guilty in shooting at park that left victim wounded

Victim also beaten with dog leash by two others in attack: Crown

The man suffered two bullet holes to his chest, as well as bullet wounds to his left leg, left forearm, and under the right armpit — and lived to describe his attacker to Hamilton police.

The shooter, 41-year-old Brian Krpan, appeared in court Friday where he plead guilty to discharge of a firearm with intent to injure, in the attack Sept. 11, 2023, in Montgomery Park, on Main Street East, just east of Kenilworth Avenue South. Krpan had initially been charged with attempted murder with a firearm.

An agreed statement of facts read in court by Crown prosecutor Mark Dean detailed the attack on the victim, Christopher Meerebout, 35. Dean said the attack included a beating with a dog leash wielded by a man and woman who had been with Krpan.

Dean said police had responded to the sound of four gunshots and a man screaming in the park at 8:40 p.m. that night. Officers spotted Krpan and a man and woman running from the park pavilion.

“As Krpan ran away, he had a black bag with him, and ended up throwing the handbag under a parked vehicle,” said Dean, adding that police found the bag contained a “loaded semi-automatic handgun, ammunition, an extended magazine and a silencer.”

Krpan also plead guilty to possession of a restricted device (a “suppressor” or silencer).

He will be sentenced on the two counts in September.

Meerebout was treated at Hamilton General Hospital. Dean said that he was “in a great deal of pain” and initially unable to speak to police, but later in hospital provided “a detailed description” of Krpan — who he said he did not know.

Meerebout described the role of a second man, said Dean, who initiated the attack by striking him in the head with the metal leash. He told police that Krpan yelled at the man to hit him with the leash, before he “opened fire on Meerebout.” He said the woman also hit him with the leash.

When Krpan’s gun jammed, Dean said, Krpan, “cursing and swearing,” removed the magazine, and a jammed shell, replaced the magazine and resumed shooting.

Meerebout’s injuries included a broken wrist and a large contusion to his face and a swollen eye.

The Spectator reported last September that the victim in the attack had been living in a tent in Montgomery Park, the site of an encampment.

Krpan, from Stoney Creek, is in custody. On Friday, he wore shorts and a Raptors T-shirt when appearing in court before Justice Martha Zivolak.

Before leaving, he turned toward a woman and young man in the gallery, and smiled, waved, and made a heart symbol with his hands.