Murdered  police  officers

There have been occasions when cop-hating killers have specifically hunted down police officers so that they can murder them. Their motives vary but I believe that their prime reason is that they simply hate them. Their hatred is premised on their beliefs that the police have done them wrong or it is their way to get back at authority. Of course, many of these killers kill police officers in order to escape capture. I am going to give you examples of such murders so that you may understand why these killers chose to kill police officers.            

Mayerthorpe tragedy 

This event occurred on March 3, 2005, on the property of James Roszko, approximately 11 km (6.8 mi) north of Rochfort Bridge near the Town of Mayerthorpe in the Canadian province of Alberta. With a Heckler & Koch 91, Roszko shot and killed  four Royal Canadian Mounted Police  (RCMP) (Constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, and Brock Myrol) as the officers were executing a property seizure on Roszko’s farm. This was the worst one-day loss of life for the RCMP in 100 years.

Previously other officers initially went to the farm to assist bailiffs in trying to repossess a truck, but Roszko already fled in it. Numerous stolen vehicle parts and a marijuana grow-op were found on the premises. Search warrants were obtained and executed but not before they had searched the farm. Constables Gordon and Johnston were providing security in case Roszko returned. Unseen by the two officers, Roszko had returned to the property after getting a ride from Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman during the night and he laid in wait for an opportunity to kill any police officers who ventured into his very large quonset shed. The next morning, Cst. Schiemann arrived to drop off Cst. Myrol. The four officers then walked into the quonset shed. Their eyes hadn’t got used to the darkness in the shed so they didn’t see Roszko aiming his rifle at them. He ambushed them and shot all four of them dead at ten in the morning.                                                                         

I am going to say this right from the start. Those officers should never have walked into that darkened shed especially since they didn`t know if Roszko was inside the shed. They presumed (and wrongly so) that if Roszko had returned to his farm, they would have heard his truck approaching the farm. But Roszko wasn’t that stupid. He knew that some police officers would be still on the farm waiting for him. That is why he had the two men he was with drop him off before they got to the farm and he would then sneak back to his farm and back into the quonset shed unseen by the two officers remaining  on the farm.                                                                                   

Now it should be obvious to anyone reading this article that Roszko re-entered the shed for one purpose only. He intended to kill as many police officers he could.

Sgt. Jim Martin, the officer’s superior didn’t assess the threat posed by Roszko and take adequate steps to keep his officers safe. One thing that should have been done was to send a robotic vehicle into the shed to ascertain if Roszko was inside the shed. Martin juggled his officers with his highway patrol unit and with the nearby Whitecourt RCMP detachment, where the now deceased Cst. Gordon was based. The Mayerthorpe unit didn’t have night-vision goggles. The nearby Evansburg Detachment had some, but the lone officer on duty that night couldn’t leave the building and go to Mayerthorpe to deliver them. Sgt. Martin should have sent someone to get them instead but this he didn’t do, hence, the four men who walked into the shed and to their deaths didn’t have the goggles with them. In other words, they walked to their deaths, blind.  Further, the police knew Roszko had a violent criminal past dating back to his teen years—charges and convictions for assault, sex assault, uttering threats, break and enter and more. Sgt. Martin should have taken even more precautions knowing this.

These four men died needlessly because of stupidity of Sgt. Martin, and the naivety of the four murdered police officers at the hands of a cop-hating sociopath who had the sole intention of killing police officers before he was shot dead by other police officers.                                                                              

The Moncton tragedy

This unfortunate event was the third worst incident of killing police officers in Canadian history when a real loser (Justine Bourque 24) shot three RCMP officers to death on June 4, 2014.

Drugs, a string of failed jobs and a growing obsession with guns matched by a hatred of police are what led a once laid-back young man into a tragic, deadly and ongoing standoff with the City of Moncton’s RCMP officers. At the age of 24, Bourque was struggling to get ahead. Bourque worked at Moncton’s Walmart where he made friends, but ultimately lost his job. He worked at a grocery store and was fired again. He most recently worked at a food wholesaler alongside his roommate whom he shared with in a trailer.         

But about one year ago, his life verged onto the path that allegedly led to a violent confrontation on the night of the 3rd of June when he killed three RCMP officers, injured two others and put the entire city of Moncton (70,000 inhabitants) into a lockdown. Schools and government buildings were closed and the streets were almost empty. People locked the doors to their homes and some of them drew the curtains of their windows so that the suspected gunman wouldn’t see inside their homes while he was still on the loose.

Based on recent posts to what appears to be his Facebook page, the 24-year-old Bourque portrayed himself as a gun enthusiast with an anti-authoritarian mindset, a description confirmed through interviews with friends and acquaintances.  Bourque not only promoted the use of guns, but held libertarian views and showed hostility toward police and authority in general—one of the reasons he was fired from his jobs. He told a friend that he wanted to go out with a bang and bring people with him. Well, he didn’t go out with a bang (commit suicide) but he did end the lives of three police officers.

Bourque's anti-police posts on Facebook should have been a warning that something was amiss. Unfortunately, no one thought to warn the police. Strangely enough, the government is seriously considering using a computer program that will search social media for signs of statements that will trigger warnings although, if they went ahead with that plan, no doubt the issue of the right to privacy would be raised in the courts. In any case, it is not against the law for someone to say that they hate police so there really wouldn’t be anything the police could do to warn the police and the public about this kind of behavior. However, if the police had been warned about this man’s statement in his Facebook, they might have seized his guns and let the court determine if he could have them back or buy more of them.

The first warning that Bourque was a danger was when ​Bourque, shaggy haired and bearded, was spotted walking in a forest near the Pinehurst subdivision in northwest Moncton on the 4th of June in full camouflage, with two rifles slung over his shoulder. Had the man only had one rifle, that person who saw Bourque with only one rifle may not have been alarmed. Someone called the police. RCMP officers respond to the call at 7:30 pm about the man wearing camouflage and armed with two high-powered rifles walking down the street.

The police were dispatched to the street where Bourque was last seen. One of the officers got out of his vehicle. He wasn’t aware that Bourque was hiding between two houses. The officer was shot in his back and killed. When a motorist stopped his car to get out and help the officer, Bourque waved him away. This is evidence that Bourque only wanted to murder police officers. Soon after, two other police cruisers arrived on a nearby street.  Bourque was by then in that immediate area. A firefight took place and two more officers were killed by Bourque and other police officers  were wounded.

Now the manhunt was underway. The search included the use of a helicopters with heat seeking equipment. They searched the immediate area of where the shootings took place and the nearby forest.  Police officers from across the country came to Moncton to help with the search. The RCMP commandeered a armoured truck from a private security firm so that their officers inside wouldn’t be at risk. Streets in Moncton and in the nearby community where the shootings took place were patrolled all night. Homeowners were asked to keep their porch lights on so as to add light to the areas being searched.

The following early morning when it was still dark, Bourque was arrested in a backyard in the northwest part of the city where the shootings occurred.  He gave himself up when he was confronted with rifles and flashlights attached to the guns were aimed at him by police officers. He  laid down on the grass with hands outstretched and said, "I'm done." Obviously, he didn’t want to die like many mass killers who choose to kill themselves. The next day when he was brought to court for his arraignment, the judge ruled that it wasn’t necessary for a psychiatric assessment to determine if he was mentally fit to stand trial. He is weird but still  knows what he was doing. 

At the time of this writing, this killer is 24 years of age. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. Just recently, the law with respect to the sentence for the crime of murder has been changed. Had he killed those three officers before that change came about, he could be released after serving 25 years in prison. The new law states that if more than one person is murdered, the person must serve each 25-year sentence consecutively.      

This means that if he is tried next year and convicted (and that is a sure thing) he will be sentenced to 75 years in prison. He will be eligible for release after he is 100 years old which will take place in 2090. What are the chances that he will live that long? About the same as him being acquitted.

The Colbourg Tragedy

On May 15, 2004, Constable Garrett was stabbed to death while investigating suspicious activity in an abandoned hospital. Two other officers had just left the scene when they heard gun shots from the area. When they returned to the location they found Constable Garrett suffering from a stab wound to his neck. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his wounds.

Troy Davey, an 18-year-old suspect was arrested later in the day. On February 22, 2007, he was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to Life with no possibility of parole until he served a minimum of 25 years.

This was another cop killer who went out of his way to kill a cop. He phoned 911 to lure a police officer to the abandoned hospital in Colbourg, Ontario so that he could kill him. He succeeded when he slashed the officer’s throat. As he was fleeing from the scene, the officer managed to fire some bullets in him before he died and when Davey was at the hospital, the police were informed and they arrested him for the murder of the police officer.  

Can you believe it? This twerp actually appealed his conviction.  The appeal ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada.  His grounds for appeal were that three weeks before potential jurors were to go to court for Davey's trial, the jury pool list was handed over to the Crown. Local police were asked to evaluate the "suitability" of potential jurors, or whether jurors would be favourable to the Crown. That information was never handed over to the defence. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said while the Crown had resources available to it that the defence did not.

Nevertheless, the court ruled that Davy had a fair trial and there was no miscarriage of justice. The conviction was ruled valid. I doubt that this man would get released even after he has served his minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. 

In March 14, 1980, Constable Sweet and his partner Doug Ramsey answered an armed robbery call at a bar on Queen Street in Toronto. The suspects, two brothers were trapped in the kitchen area. The officers headed in that direction and came under fire. The suspects went down a dark stairway where Constable Sweet was hit by a bullet from a shotgun. Back-up arrived on the scene and the two officers were held hostage. While negotiating their release one of the suspects was permitted out to bring back liquor. The suspects turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Constable Sweet who had been laying on the kitchen floor slowly bleeding to death for 90 minutes. An officer at the scene reported hearing the pleas. “Help. I cannot breathe.” and then there was silence. He died. His killers were captured and found guilty. One of the brothers was released after serving 17 years and Craig Munro who actually shot Constable Sweet was found guilty of first degree murder without eligibility for parole for 25 years. He is still in prison. He has been incarcerated for the last 34 years.

What drives people to kill cops?

1.     Gets even with a specific cop for a perceived wrong done to the assailant.

2.    Gets even with cops in general for a perceived wrongdoing of one cop to the assailant.

3.    Hates people in authority and kills cops if they get in his way.

4.    Hates people in general and kills cops if they get in his way.

5.    Is attempting to flee the scene of a crime and kills a cop who tries to stop him.

6.    Kills a cop because he intends to die in a shootout and wants to make a name for himself.

Cop killers are sociopaths and have no respect for human life. Often they believe themselves to be pseud0-commandos and dress accordingly and arm themselves with high-powered guns. They for the most part, do not fear death and are prepared to die in a gun battle with cops. Justine Bourque is the exception. He was too cowardly to fight to the death with the cops when they confronted him.

For the most part, they are losers who seem to fail in almost everything they do. They are in effect, domestic terrorists. They are the anti-authority types who have a statement to make and often write their written manifestos and publish them on the internet before they go on their rampage.

The irony of all of this is that there are warning signs seen by many who ignore them until it is too late. These killers make verbal statements of their desire to kill cops and even they put them on the internet and still no one takes these killers seriously until the rampage begins. By then, of course, it is too late.

Can anything be done ahead of time if those warning signs are subsequently known by the police? Of course something can be done. They can go to a judge or justice of the peace for a search warrant and seize any firearms found in the person’s home or vehicle and then later have a judge decide whether or not the public is at risk if the firearms are returned to the person. The only time I know of this being done is in a case in which I won a court case against a man and he threatened to kill me. He made the threat right in the courtroom. I filed a complaint with the police and they went to his house and seized his guns. 

Bourque’s parents informed the police of their concerns about their son’s strange behavior and that he had guns in his trailer where he was living. The retired RCMP police officer they spoke to said that there was nothing the police could do unless their son did something that would be considered a risk to himself or the public. They spoke to other police officers and they said the same thing. They should have made an official request directly to the New Brunswick RCMP. Had the police then gone to the young man's trailer and seized his guns, those three police officers who Bourque killed, would be alive today. According to the Canadian Criminal Code, the police don't need a warrant to seize the guns. They don't even need a warrant to search for them. 

I like that old German adage—Too smart too late. 

Would you believe it? Soon after I posted this article in my blog, I learned that a man and a woman in Las Vegas walked into a restuarant yesterday and shot two police officers to death and then walked across the street and shot someone else at the Walmart. The police shot the male shooter and the female shooter shot herself.   

The police have no heads up warning when they are on the job that there are weirdos are out there waiting for them to be off guard. So many of them have been killed by the weirdos. That is why I don't object to them being paid high wages.