The man accused of killing a Toronto police officer with a snowplow earlier this month made his first court appearance Friday with his nose bandaged and his left arm in a sling.
Appearing before a packed courtroom, a handcuffed Richard Kachkar, 44, had his case put over to Tuesday. He remains in custody.
Originally from St. Catharines, Ont., Kachkar is charged with first-degree murder in the death of police Sgt. Ryan Russell and two counts of attempted murder for injuries suffered by two police officers during a Jan. 12 confrontation.
Russell, a 35-year-old husband and father of a two-year-old son, was killed when a stolen snowplow struck him near the intersection of Avenue and Davenport Roads.
Police shot and wounded Kachkar during a takedown on a Toronto street about seven kilometres away.
Wearing in a white T-shirt, Kachkar repeated his name in a hushed voice but said nothing else when he appeared in person before a judge Friday. He watched the proceedings with a furrowed brow but showed no emotion.
Kachkar appeared in court shortly after Russell's father, Glenn, thanked the public and emergency personnel across North America for their outpouring of support.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Glenn Russell said the support is helping the family to cope with its grief.
He extended the family's "most heartfelt gratitude" to several groups that have stood by them, including the thousands of people who attended visitations at a funeral home and a large public memorial service in downtown Toronto, and those who lined a procession route.
"We did see you through our tears. It was your good wishes that gave us strength to get through this most difficult of times," said Glenn Russell alongside his wife, Linda, and his son's widow, Christine.
Reading from a prepared statement on the family's behalf, Glenn Russell singled out his son's former co-workers in the guns and gangs task force and his colleagues in A platoon at 52 Division, where his son was based at the time of his death.
"Ryan and I spoke often of how proud he was to serve with you all and how he enjoyed working with such a fine group of people," Glenn Russell said.
He also thanked the Toronto Police Service executive and Toronto Police Association.
"You stood with us shoulder and shoulder every step of the way. We were able to lean upon you when we faltered," Glenn Russell said.
The family didn't take questions from reporters.
As of Friday morning, Kachkar is being held in the medical wing at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ont., CTV's John Vennavally-Rao told CTV News Channel.
Little is known about Kachkar beyond the fact he is separated from his wife, has two grown children, and that he spent the night before the incident in a shelter in downtown Toronto.
"He's something of an enigma, we really don't know much about why he came from St. Catharines to Toronto, how he ended up in a shelter in Toronto and how he ended up being a suspect in all of this," said Vennavally-Rao from outside the court on Friday.
Thousands of officers attended a memorial service for Russell on Tuesday in downtown Toronto. City streets were filled with sombre police officers from across Canada as they remembered a fallen brother.
Russell, an 11-year veteran of the police service, is the first officer to die in the line of duty in Toronto since 2002.
With files from The Canadian Press
