Stratford man charged with second-degree murder

A Stratford man charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a woman is also accused of manufacturing a handgun, according to court documents.

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Emergency crews were called Tuesday around 5 am to 575 Ontario St., where a 35-year-old woman with a gunshot wound was taken to hospital and pronounced dead, Stratford police said.

Keith Daniel Savile, 41, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Kassidy Ballantyne-Holmes, the city’s second homicide of the year.

Savile, whose home address is listed as the Ontario Street home where Kassidy Ballantyne-Holmes was found shot, is also charged with three gun-related offenses: possessing a gun without a license, carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offense, and manufacturing a firearm without authorization.

The weapon involved in all of the offenses is a handgun, the documents say.

“There was one firearm that was recovered at the scene,” Stratford police spokesperson Const. Aaron Munfield said.

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Homemade guns, also known as “ghost guns,” have been used in crime across Southwestern Ontario in recent years. The devices, typically made using 3D printers, can be bought online or assembled at home and are favored by criminals because they don’t have serial numbers and other factors used to help police trace the weapons.

Mounfield declined to say what the relationship was between Savile and Ballantyne-Holmes, but called the killing 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 possession of stolen property case from July list her as having no fixed address.

Savile appeared in court Tuesday and was remanded into custody until his next court appearance Thursday.

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Gun violence in Stratford is rare, but this is the second fatal shooting in the city in the past three months.

On Aug. 1, Ricky Bilcke, 31, went on a shooting spree on Bradshawe Drive, killing Johnny Bennett, 36, and seriously insulting Bennett’s girlfriend, Stephanie Irvine, 37, and David Tokley, 43, before turning his gun on himself.

Investigators determined the murder-suicide — Stratford’s first homicide since 2005 — was the result of an “ongoing neighbor dispute” and Bilcke was armed with a shotgun, a high-powered rifle and a handgun during the attack. All of the weapons were legally registered, police said.

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