Fireworks, fights and pepper spray: Chaotic Canada Day celebration at a Kitchener, Ont. park

One person has been charged with assaulting a police officer after chaos broke out in a Kitchener, Ont. park on Canada Day.

Witnesses told CTV News that a large group started setting off fireworks into the crowd, prompting a fight that led to the use of pepper spray by Waterloo Regional Police.

Officers started getting reports of the bad behaviour at Victoria Park around 8:50 p.m.

According to a media release, the fireworks were shot at adults, children and police officers.

Cathy Lumb described the scene to CTV News.

“Fireworks were going off in the pathway, ambulance lights, police, bylaw, police running after kids. Kids throwing fireworks right in front of me, saying they didn’t do it. It was horrible.”

No fireworks allowed sign displayed in Victoria Park on July 2, 2024. (Chris Thomson/CTV News)

Fireworks and fights

Stephanie Livingstone was at the park with her friends, including Kayla Merpaw, when the festivities spun out of control.

“A firecracker got thrown behind my friend and her baby, who is six-months-old,” Merpaw said.

The baby wasn’t hurt but the group felt rattled by the experience.

That’s when they pulled out their cellphones to capture the fireworks going off in the crowd.

“We thought, at first, it was a gunshot. So our first thought was: ‘Run!’” Livingstone said.

Stephanie Livingstone and Kayla Merpaw on July 2, 2024.

They started to leave the park, but then noticed the group of young people followed them.

Livingstone said they asked them to stop and admitted to giving them the middle finger. In response, one of the girls allegedly pulled her hair. Livingstone said she struck the girl and that’s when the fight broke out.

“I think, about 40 times, I got kicked in the head,” she recalled.

“They were literally stomping on her,” Merpaw added. “There were at least 30 people stomping on her.”

Livingstone said she was terrified.

“I was scared,” she told CTV News Tuesday. “I thought I was going to die, literally.”

Merpaw said she sought the help of police.

“The officer said: ‘Let them fight it out,’” she alleged.

Livingstone said she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a concussion, broken finger, sprained neck and bruised ribs, in addition to many other cuts and bruises.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of that incident, I don’t have the details,” Const. Brad Hickey said in response to the allegation. “I just want to remind members of the public these sorts of situations are very dynamic. That [there were] many people in the park at a time and it’s ultimately chaos.”

Other reported incidents

The fireworks and fight are not the only Canada Day incidents under investigation.

They said a robbery, involving a gun, was reported at Victoria Park.

Police are also looking into a ‘swatting’ call. They said someone “indicated a mass shooting would take place at Victoria Park and officers would be shot at.”

No updates have been shared about the status of those incidents.

Police response and plea

Waterloo Regional Police said they ultimately had to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd at Victoria Park and a 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with assaulting police.

Others were also charged with consuming liquor in a public park.

Livingstone hopes there are more arrests in the coming days.

“I didn’t deserve that,” she insisted. “They should have just let us leave and left us alone.”

Anyone who witnessed or has video of these events is asked to come forward.

“I do know there’s multiple follow-up investigations being conducted today, and we’re still encouraging members of the public – maybe they were involved in an incident last night and they haven’t reported it yet – to please contact police,” Hickey said.

Councillor shares her experience

The bad behaviour wasn’t just limited to Victoria Park.

Julie Wright, the Ward 7 councillor in Waterloo, said a roman candle was intentionally shot in her face as she and her family were on their way home from a Canada Day drone show.

Wright said she saw a man with fireworks at MacGregor Public School and told him he couldn’t set them off.

That’s when he allegedly aimed the fireworks directly at her and about 15 other people on Central Street.

City of Waterloo Ward 7 Councillor Julie Wright on Central Street near Waterloo Park, where she says she was shot at with fireworks. (Chris Thomson/CTV News)

“I am a little singed, but not significantly injured,” Wright said in a social media post. “I was shot at multiple times and hit once. This firework insanity has to stop.”

She reported the incident to police and said she already has a meeting set up with law enforcement later this week to discuss the next steps.

Late Tuesday night, police released an image of a man they're looking to identify in connection to the Central Street incident.

Police said he allegedly injured two people with fireworks and was last seen on Albert Street.

Enforcing firework rules

Fireworks have become a growing concern in Waterloo Region.

On Victoria Day, hundreds gathered in Victoria Park for another unauthorized party. Things spiralled out of control when some of those in attendance began firing off fireworks at others in the park.

People running down a Kitchener street and shooting fireworks on May 21, 2024. (Source: Harold Russell/Facebook)

No serious injuries were reported.

A 14-year-old was the only person, according to the latest update from Waterloo Regional Police, who was arrested in connection to the incident. The teen was charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said police stepped up enforcement at the park for Canada Day, a direct response to the events on Victoria Day.

“As a city, together with our law enforcement partners, we were more visible, we were more prepared, we were ready to be more responsive, which everyone was. But, at the end of the day, when people choose to make bad decisions, you can’t stop that from happening.”

Wright, meanwhile, wants immediate action.

“What I’m really interested in is knowing what works,” she said the day after her frightening ordeal. “I think we need to reach out to some of our municipal jurisdictions that have already implemented measures to see what is actually going to work for us. And then it absolutely needs to be coordinated, because there’s really no boundaries between the City of Kitchener and the City of Waterloo. What happens over there, happens here. It’s just a matter of time.”