Hundreds gather to remember gunsmith killed by police

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While thousands of people came to know Rodger Kotanko due to how he died, hundreds of those who knew him best turned out on Sunday to celebrate how he lived.

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Kotanko, 70, was killed Nov. 3, 2021 after a Toronto Police officer shot him as they executed a search warrant at Kotanko’s gun-smithing shop near Port Dover.

The officers, who were later cleared by the provincial Special Investigations Unit, said Kotanko pointed a firearm at them and they feared for their lives. One quickly fired four shots at him.

They had gone in to arrest Kotanko after two pistols used in crimes elsewhere were found to be under his name.

Almost a year later, there is still a great deal of anger at Kotanko’s death and it rumbled through the celebration of his life that attracted several hundred of Kotanko’s family, customers, close friends and sportsmen buddies to the Waterford Sportsman’s Club Sunday afternoon.

“It stinks. The whole thing stinks,” said one woman.

The anger and the coming civil suit that’s been launched against the Toronto Police Services Board and the officers involved, wasn’t the focus of the weekend event, the family said.

“It’s the stories about Rodger and a chance for people who couldn’t come to the funeral to talk about him and share their feelings,” said his sister, Suzanne Kantor.

Those who attended the crowded venue were a reflection of Kotanko’s life and work, she said. Family surrounded Kotanko’s mother, Elinor Kotanko, while some camouflage-wearing men noshed barbecued sandwiches with others in neat suits and ties.

“He had a very good customer base that even included a businessman from China and he did a lot of gun work for OPP officers,” Kantor said. “And they all have stories.”

No one went to Kotanko expecting to just pop in, said his sister, and everyone knew to bring him a coffee.

“There were coffee cups all over the place and the guys would sit in the shop and just visit.”

There were no speeches Sunday.

Kantor, the trustee of Kotanko’s estate, shared a couple of items she found: one was a paper with a list of gun jokes and the other was a commendation from a former Hamilton police chief from years ago when Kotanko had seen a vehicle run off the road and helped track down and stop the dangerous driver.

There was a photo board with pictures of Kotanko from the time he was a small boy to his wedding to his widow Jessie Kotanko and photos of his kids.

Kotanko’s ex-wife Violy Stevens attended Sunday’s celebration of life. The couple were married 20 years and she said he was a very careful man when it came to guns.

“One night he came home from the gun club and saw two guys trying to steal his motorbike. I heard him come in and lock up his gun in the cabinet and then go out again.”

When Stevens asked where he went, Kotanko told her someone was trying to steal his bike but he had locked up his gun before confronting them.

“He was always very careful.”

The crowd at the celebration for Kotanko was loud and laughing, remembering good times and silly stories – like the time a young Rodger baptized his sister’s talking baby doll in the creek – but their frustration about his death kept boiling up.

“Why didn’t they try to get him going in to work or coming out, at the end of the day?” said one man quietly. “Most people here believe Rodger was ambushed.”

“Maybe it’s because the police were from Toronto and they do everything different there. They deal with different situations,” said another.

And who, people wondered, was the customer who apparently confirmed the police reports that the calm and careful Kotanko had picked up an unloaded gun and aimed it at the officers instead of raising his hands.

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble