The Spiritwood Incident was a shooting that occurred on July 7, 2006, during a police pursuit in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, killing two of the three

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

officers involved. It began in the town of

Spiritwood Spiritwood is a town in the boreal forest of central Saskatchewan, Canada with a population of approximately 1,000. Its location is 125 km west of Prince Albert and about 110 km northeast of North Battleford at the junction of Highway ...

, a community of about 1000 people located approximately northwest of

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, and ended near Mildred, approximately away.

Incident

On July 7, 2006, two officers from the

detachment in Spiritwood, Constables Robin Cameron (29), Marc Bourdages (26), and Michelle Knopp, responded to a complaint of an assault at a home close to the detachment. A man later identified as Curtis Alfred Dagenais fled the scene in a pickup truck. The officers followed, and the ensuing pursuit lasted . During the chase, gunfire was exchanged between the officers and Dagenais. Cameron and Bourdages were both shot in the head through their car windshield while Knopp was struck by bullet fragments. Dagenais abandoned his car and escaped on foot. Working in the nearby town of Shellbrook that night,

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, superv ...

Barry Thomas received a call for back-up, and was one of the first officers to find the constables at the scene. The two officers later died of their wounds, Cameron on July 15 and Bourdages early the next morning, on July 16. The bullet fragments that struck Knopp have since remained embedded in her ear, arm, and torso. A massive

manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

failed to find Dagenais, who turned himself in without incident to the RCMP's Spiritwood detachment on July 18, after twelve days. While he was on the run, Dagenais mailed a self-justifying 5-page letter to the ''

Edmonton Sun The ''Edmonton Sun'' is a daily newspaper and news website published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its 2015 acquisition of Sun Media from Quebecor. It began publishing Sunday April 2, 1978 and shares many c ...

''.

Trial and aftermath

Dagenais' trial took place in 2009 at the

Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan (Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan during the reign of female monarchs) is the superior trial court for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Structure and organization The Court consists of 29 ...

, before Justice Gerald Allbright. During the trial, Dagenais argued he had not intentionally shot the officers. He claimed that he feared for his life and shot in blind panic out in self-defence and that the three officers fired first after ramming his truck. The Crown argued that it was Dagenais who had fired first and intentionally shot the officers. After two days of deliberations, on 12 March 2009, the jury found him guilty of two counts of

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially t ...

and one count of

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven y ...

. He is not eligible for parole until 2031. On 17 September 2012, Dagenais was granted an appeal date for October 25. After less than 10 minutes of deliberation, the appeal was dismissed on all 3 points. The surviving officer from the incident, Constable Michelle Knopp, was awarded the Medal of Bravery on 26 February 2009, which was invested on 6 May 2011.

References

External links

Globe And Mail: Suspect in RCMP Slayings surrenders.Globe And Mail: RCMP officers succumb to their wounds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiritwood Incident Canadian police officers killed in the line of duty July 2006 crimes July 2006 events in Canada Manhunts People murdered in Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Mounted Police Spiritwood No. 496, Saskatchewan 2006 in Saskatchewan 2006 murders in Canada

Incident

Trial and aftermath

See also

References

External links