Eric Amaral charged with 1st-degree murder in Kitchener, Ont., arrow death
Michael Gibbon found on lawn with arrow sticking out of his chest
Eric Amaral, the man accused of shooting a Waterloo Regional Police Service officer in the face with a pellet gun, has been charged with first-degree murder in the arrow shooting death of Michael Gibbon of Kitchener, Ont.
Amaral, 29, appeared in a Kitchener court Tuesday afternoon to answer to the charge.
Dressed in a grey T-shirt and black jacket, with a noticeable scratch on his right cheek, Amaral entered the courtroom and stood to face the judge, eyes darting around the room.
He is being held in custody until his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Nov. 3, via video.
Gibbon, 60, was found sprawled on the lawn of a house on Margaret Avenue early on the morning of Oct. 5 with an arrow in his chest.
He was rushed to hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
According to WRPS spokesman Staff Sgt. Michael Haffner, police were able to lay the charge against Amaral following an investigation into Gibbon's death, but he declined to be more specific about what led police to that point.
"We're still appealing to the community for any information that may assist in the investigation, however we don't anticipate any other arrests in relation to the Michael Gibbon homicide," said Haffner.
"He's just going to be missed more than words can say. It just leaves such a hole in our family," his sister, Linda Leinweber, told Carol Off, the host of CBC Radio's As It Happens.
Leinweber said that Gibbon used to go for early morning walks around the neighbourhood where he was shot, and he had been born in the house he was living in on Guelph Street, just a few blocks from where he was found on Margaret Avenue.
Pellet gun incident
Police were following a vehicle in central Kitchener late on the afternoon of Oct. 13 and attempting to stop it, when the vehicle's driver pulled out a pellet gun and fired. A police officer was struck in the face and the hand, and returned fire, hitting the vehicle.
Amaral, who had a court order not to possess firearms, was charged in the pellet gun shooting.