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04 June 2014: Shootings in Moncton NB, Three RCMP dead

I was surprised at the amount of coverage this got here in the US. I was driving from Massachusetts back to Virginia, and they had a story on every hourly news broadcast, and a couple included portions of the RCMP briefings.

Sad story all around. Condolences go out to the families of the victims.  :salute:
 
Glad he was caught, it sounds like he was hiding out in a shed/back yard.
 
Shame he's in custody, he should be in the morgue.
 
jollyjacktar said:
Shame he's in custody, he should be in the morgue.

No, they got a mass murderer in custody, which is rare with the gun rampaging type, take him apart mentally, find out what makes him tick, add that to the body of knowledge of this type of criminal and maybe we can stop these guys before they start.
 
Having spent some time in Texas I can't help but wonder how this whole thing would have worked out.
From the chase, every man and his dog armed to the teeth, capture and sentencing....execution is still routinely carried out in Texas.
 
Baden Guy said:
Having spent some time in Texas I can't help but wonder how this whole thing would have worked out.
From the chase, every man and his dog armed to the teeth, capture and sentencing....execution is still routinely carried out in Texas.

Based on that, do you really think he'd have made it to the sentencing?  Or even actually get captured much beyond being a dead guy in handcuffs?

MM
 
Now that it is all over and on the anniversary of D Day, an appropriate cartoon:
 
I will give the RCMP credit, it must have taken a lot to take him alive with all the rage inside. They certainly did a far superior job than the police in the US hunting the ex-cop that shoot other police.
 
According to the RCMP, you can send condolences here => Condolences_Condoleances@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

More on the fallen officers from the RCMP Info-machine ....
  • Cst. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, 45, was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France and joined the RCMP at Regina, Saskatchewan, after receiving his Canadian citizenship. Upon graduation from the RCMP Training Academy “Depot” on February 11, 2008, Cst. Gevaudan was posted to “J Division”, New Brunswick, namely at the Codiac Detachment where he worked in General Duty Policing.
  • Cst. Dave Joseph Ross, 32, from Victoriaville, Quebec, joined the RCMP at Ottawa, Ontario. Upon graduation from the RCMP Training Academy “Depot” on July 9, 2007, Cst. Ross was posted to “J Division”, New Brunswick, namely at the Codiac Detachment where he worked in General Duty Policing and, most recently, as a Police Dog Services Handler.
  • Cst Douglas James Larche, 40, from Saint John, New Brunswick, joined the RCMP at Moncton, New Brunswick.  Upon graduation from the RCMP Training Academy “Depot” on February 4, 2002, Cst. Larche was posted to “J Division”, New Brunswick, including Doaktown and more recently, Codiac Detachment. He worked in Highway Patrol and General Duty Policing and was an investigator with the Codiac General Investigation Section/Major Crime Unit. In 2008, Cst. Larche received a Commander’s Commendation for saving the life of an unconscious baby in Moncton.
 
Article Link

Surveillance aircraft played key role capturing Bourque

The 30-hour search for Justin Bourque came to a sudden end Thursday night soon after the arrival of an aircraft rigged with sophisticated surveillance equipment normally deployed to patrol the Canadian coast.

As police on the ground struggled to track the man alleged to have gunned down three Mounties, behind the scenes officials at Transport Canada told the RCMP they had a powerful asset in reserve. It turned out to be key to capturing the accused killer.

The aircraft, a DASH-8, is the workhorse at the centre of the National Aerial Surveillance Program. What makes it special is its sensitive camera, the (Wescam)MX-15, which is used to monitor shipping lanes and detect environmental spills. With an armed suspect on the loose, and with three officers dead and two others wounded, getting close to him on the ground was a risky proposition. Mr. Bourque had been spotted a few times early Thursday, but then seemed to slip away into a wooded section of North Moncton.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the chief of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at Transport Canada, Louis Armstrong, advised his team that the DASH-8 had been redirected to Moncton and was set to land within 35 minutes. It would be at the RCMP’s disposal.

“I just spoke to Cst. Mike Oliver – J Division, to explain the capabilities of the Dash 8, mainly the MX-15,” Mr. Armstrong wrote in an e-mail.

The MX-15 is described as ideal for medium-altitude covert intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. It can offer real-time imaging that shows a landscape in shades of grey. Anything with a heat signature, such as a human being, registers as a bright white. It’s considered among the most sophisticated aerial imaging tools in the country.

With bad weather threatening, authorities decided to speed up their planned, midnight takeoff. At 11:24 p.m., Brad Mundle of Transport Canada sent an e-mail to colleagues, many of them part of the Marine Aerial Reconnaissance Team (MART).

“Transport 950 is airborne and over tasking area,” Mr. Mundle wrote.

At 11:58 p.m., he updated the team again. The plane had spotted something: a heat signature coming from a wooded area. It’s not clear whether the aircraft was directed to that spot beforehand based on intelligence developed on the ground. The RCMP would not comment on the specifics of the investigation, but did say that a citizen had provided information Thursday that contributed to the suspect’s capture.

Mr. Mundle was watching it all from the aircraft hangar via live video. The MX-15 has the ability to blend infrared and electro-optic, night-vision images, making for a highly detailed, stable picture of what’s happening on the ground, even in darkness.

“We’re apparently streaming a video that has everyone excited,” Mr. Mundle wrote. “We are onto someone hiding in the bush.”

Up in the air, an RCMP officer was in the cockpit with the Transport Canada pilot, passing information to police on the ground by radio. Meanwhile, RCMP commanders in the situation centre watched images relayed by satellite. What they could see, according to a source who was not authorized to speak on the record, was the shape of a man crouched behind a tree. Once the heat signature was spotted, the force’s Emergency Response Team on the ground was ordered to move.

Less than 10 minutes later, the heavily armed RCMP team descended on the yard of a home on Mecca Drive belonging to the family of Michelle Thibodeau. The images relayed from the DASH-8 showed a circle of white figures with weapons raised creeping slowly toward the lone figure in the trees, encircling him. Finally, the suspect could be seen raising his arms and dropping to the ground.

At 12:23 am, Brad Mundle updated his colleagues again.

“Got him, confirmed,” he wrote.

“Excellent!” replied director of flight operations Steve Buckles.
 
K9 dog Danny, sniffs the stetson of his partner, slain Const. David Ross during the funeral procession for the three RCMP officers who were killed on duty, at their regimental funeral at the Moncton Coliseum in Moncton, N.B. on Tuesday, June 10, 2014.

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Damn it.  Just...damn. 

RIP  :cdn: :cdn: :cdn:

Article Link
 
Just came upon this from Christie Blatchford :

Blatchford: Suspect Justin Bourque armed at time of arrest, officer says
'Every one of us wanted to kill him ... but we aren't killers; we're cops'

By Christie Blatchford, Postmedia News June 11, 2014

http://www.canada.com/Blatchford+Suspect+Justin+Bourque+armed+time+arrest+officer+says/9922880/story.html
 
Bumped with the latest - guilty plea, no word yet on when sentencing will be passed ....
Justin Christien Bourque has pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the Mountie shootings in Moncton, N.B., in June.

He entered the pleas before Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice David Smith in Moncton on Friday.

Smith asked Bourque, 24, of Moncton, if he understood what he was pleading guilty to, and Bourque replied, "yes."

The judge then asked him if he was voluntarily pleading guilty and he again replied, "yes."

Smith advised Bourque he could be facing consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole for 75 years for the three first-degree murder charges.

He said by pleading guilty, Bourque was admitting to having intended to kill the officers and his actions were planned and deliberate ....
More (via Google News search) here.
 
milnews.ca said:
Bumped with the latest - guilty plea, no word yet on when sentencing will be passed ....More (via Google News search) here.

Wow, I'm surprised Smith didn't ask him if he was really really sure and to cross his heart.

Are all guilty pleas met with such redundancy?
 
And his comments that the sentences could be consecutive.  That's a joke.  Never heard of  that once here, always concurrent.
 
jollyjacktar said:
And his comments that the sentences could be consecutive.  That's a joke.  Never heard of  that once here, always concurrent.

Like the reduction of a sentence for time already served (spent in custody) doesn't always happen either.  I can guarantee you that.
 
[quote author=jollyjacktar]
And his comments that the sentences could be consecutive.  That's a joke.  Never heard of  that once here, always was concurrent before 2011.
[/quote]

FTFY IAW CBC.ca

Up until 2011, the longest sentence for murder was life imprisonment, but with a chance of parole after 25 years, regardless of the number of victims.

Convicted multiple murderers served their life sentences concurrently, meaning they were subject to only one parole ineligibility period.

But under the federal Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, passed on Dec. 2, 2011, judges may now impose consecutive parole ineligibility periods for those convicted of more than one first-degree or second-degree murder.
 
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