Shootings of five police in Canada
The Moncton shootings were a string of shootings that took place on June 4, 2014, in Moncton, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The perpetrator, Justin Bourque, a 24-year-old Moncton resident, walked around the northern area of the city and shot five officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), killing three and severely injuring two. A manhunt for Bourque was launched and continued overnight and into June 5. On June 6, Bourque was found and taken into custody, ending a manhunt that lasted over 28 hours. The shooting was both Moncton's first homicide since 2010 and the deadliest attack on the RCMP since the Mayerthorpe tragedy in 2005, which left four RCMP officers dead. Bourque intended for the shootings to trigger a rebellion against the Canadian government. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison, with no eligibility for parole until after serving 25 years.
Background.
Moncton is the most populous city in New Brunswick, Canada, located along the Petitcodiac River valley in the eastern part of the province. In 2011, the city had a population of 69,074. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the national police force in Canada, with the Codiac Regional RCMP being the force's detachment in Moncton. This detachment serves as the means of law enforcement in the city as well as nearby areas including Dieppe and Riverview. As of 2022, this detachment had 147 officers.
Shootings.
At around 6:00 p.m. on June 4, 2014, Justin Bourque purchased three boxes of ammunition in the presence of a friend, who did not find it unusual since the two of them planned to go to a shooting range. During the late hours of that same day, Bourque left his rented home, dressed in camouflage and carrying an M14 rifle and a shotgun. He calmly walked down a road in his trailer park, passing several neighbours along the way.
At 7:18 p.m. ADT, the first 9-1-1 call was made to police about an armed man walking down a sidewalk on Pioneer Avenue and towards the woods west of the street. Twelve officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) responded to the scene and set up a perimeter around the woods and the surrounding neighbourhood. Bourque was first seen by Constable Mathieu Daigle stepping out of the forest, crossing a street, and entering another wooded area that bordered the backyards of several houses. Daigle sent out a radio transmission describing Bourque, but some radio static was heard, which made the description difficult to understand. Daigle was then joined by Csts. Fabrice Gevaudan and Rob Nickerson as they trailed Bourque, who was headed toward a house on Bromfield Court, where five other officers were positioned. All of the officers were intending on maintaining visual contact on Bourque while waiting for the arrival of Police Dog Services, who were scheduled to arrive in a few minutes.
Bourque first opened fire at 7:46 p.m. after heading towards a backyard, during which he allegedly heard one of the officers shouting "Hey!". He fired three shots at Gevaudan, all of which missed. Gevaudan fled and radioed the officers that he was being shot at, before being hit twice in the torso from about 30 meters away. He died almost instantly. Gevaudan's body was found a few minutes later and dragged into a nearby garage by other officers, where CPR was attempted.
Bourque then fled the woods and emerged southeast of McCoy Street, where he continued walking in a straight line on Mailhot Avenue. There, two minutes after he shot Gevaudan, he encountered Constable David Ross, who was driving a police SUV down the road. Ross drew his service pistol and accelerated his vehicle towards Bourque as he was turning to face his direction. Ross fired two shots at Bourque through his windshield, while Bourque returned fire with his M14 rifle, firing six shots back at him. Ross was shot twice in the hand and left shoulder, with a third fatal shot being directed at the head. It was believed Ross was attempting to hit Bourque with his vehicle or get within range to open fire with his service weapon. Constable Eric White later found his body still slumped inside the driver's seat before being forced to take cover behind the vehicle after spotting Bourque taking aim at him from further down the street.
At 7:54 p.m., Constable Martine Benoît arrived at the intersection of Hildegard Drive and Mailhot Avenue, being guided there by a civilian who was following Bourque and reporting where he was headed via 9-1-1 call. Bourque, taking cover in a deeply shaded and wooded ditch, opened fire on her and disabled her police vehicle with gunfire, preventing her from escaping. Constable Éric Stéphane J. Dubois responded to assist her and was wounded by gunfire while trying to give Benoît additional cover. Bourque then crossed Hildegard Drive and left, allowing Dubois to flee to the local fire station nearby. Benoît, unaware that she was safe, remained inside her vehicle for a period of time and had to be picked up by another officer. At 7:59 p.m., seconds after the Hildegard shooting, Constable Marie Darlene Goguen responded to the fire station in her police vehicle, whereupon she was fired at while still seated inside and hit twice. Goguen was able to flee from the immediate vicinity with the help of Constable Donnie Robertson. Both Dubois and Goguen survived their gunshot wounds. At this point, communications became confusing and chaotic, with the details of casualties, shooting locations, and Bourque's location varying.
At 8:04 p.m., Constable Douglas Larche, who was plain-clothed but also wearing body armour, and armed with a shotgun, responded at Mailhot Avenue. There, he was spotted by Bourque, who then concealed himself behind several trees and fired four shots at him, wounding him. Larche returned fire with seven shots from his service pistol. Nearby residents tried to warn him about Bourque, but he was fatally shot in the neck as he tried to take cover behind his car. The entire exchange of gunfire lasted for 70 seconds. It was captured on a cellphone camera, filmed by nearby residents. Bourque then fled the scene at 8:13 p.m. and escaped into the woods behind Isington Street. He had been last sighted near Ryan Street and Wheeler Boulevard.
Late on June 4, it was reported that three RCMP officers were killed, while two other officers were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. According to witnesses, Bourque spotted and even spoke to several civilians while lying in wait, and left without shooting at them. Other witnesses reported that he actually waved away civilians when they tried helping the officers. "The New York Times" reported that television footage showed "several cars and police vehicles with bullet holes and shattered windows". The northwest area of Moncton was locked down while the search for the shooter was in progress; public buses were pulled from the streets, and all entrances to the locked-down area were sealed.
Manhunt.
Authorities named Bourque as the suspect after his family and friends saw photos of him during the shootings on Hildegard Drive circulating on news reports and social media. Multiple sightings of the suspect, by police and the public, continued in the second day of the manhunt. Up to 300 police personnel were involved in the search. Because Bourque's location was unknown at the time and he was heavily armed, a definitive perimeter and containment protocol was not established and all of the officers' activities were considered high-risk.
Pedestrians and motorists were asked to stay away from the area of the search; public transit was suspended; and schools, government offices, stores, and businesses were closed. Residents were later instructed to lock their doors, leave their exterior lights on, and refrain from broadcasting police movements on social media sites.
The next day, police surrounded an apartment building and were broadcasting a demand to exit over a public address system. More than a dozen armed officers surrounded the building and deployed a robot with a camera inside at approximately 3:00 p.m. Minutes later, they left the apartment complex after finding no sign of Bourque. The report that called police over to the building later turned out to be a false alarm. A police helicopter with thermal-imaging cameras was deployed to search Moncton. At least two armoured cars were borrowed by the RCMP to transport heavily armed tactical team members.
On June 6, at 12:10 a.m. (Atlantic Daylight Time), Bourque was located in the woods by the RCMP with the help of a special Transport Canada Dash 8 National Aerial Surveillance Program aircraft's thermal imaging camera, after a resident saw him crouched below a window in a yard on Mecca Drive and called police. The lock-down, in effect for approximately 28 hours in the north end of Moncton, was lifted shortly thereafter. While being taken into custody, Bourque reportedly told police, "I'm done." He was unarmed at the time of his arrest, but several weapons were found at the scene. On June 7, a search was launched at a field and a wooded area located near the scene of the arrest.
Victims.
Three RCMP officers were killed in the shootings and another two injured. All five shooting victims were identified by police two days after the shootings. The dead were identified as Cst. Dave Ross, 32, of Victoriaville, Quebec; Cst. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, 45, of Boulogne-Billancourt, France; and Cst. Douglas James Larche, 40, of Saint John, New Brunswick. The two surviving officers were identified as Cst. Éric Stéphane J. Dubois and Cst. Marie Darlene Goguen. On August 11, the causes of death were released in an agreed statement of facts filed by the Moncton Queen's Bench. Ross died from a gunshot wound to the head, Gevaudan died of two gunshot wounds to the chest, and Larche died of shots to the neck and left flank.
Perpetrator.
Justin Christien Bourque (born November 12, 1989), a resident of Moncton, was named by authorities as a suspect in the shootings. He was 24 years old at the time. Bourque explained in a police interview following his arrest that his actions were a rebellion of sorts against the Canadian government, which he believed to be oppressive. He stated that he believed that police officers were protecting such a government. During the shooting incident, Bourque was dressed in military camouflage and wore a green headband.
Life prior to shooting.
Bourque was born as one of seven children in a religious family and was home-schooled. Eighteen months prior to the shooting, he moved out of his parents' home and into a trailer park in Moncton's Ryder Park neighbourhood. Bourque had been forced to move out on his parents' request following a dispute over his purchase of a second firearm and his "inappropriate behaviour". He had recently quit his job working at a local grocery store, and had just been hired by Rolly's Wholesale.
Behavioural problems.
A former coworker of Bourque said that "he's always seemed to have a problem with authority. Issues with parents, bosses, police..." Bourque also reportedly held anti-government and anti-authority views, and talked about killing other people and himself. Two days before the shooting, Bourque made rants against all figures of authority to his father, during which he was described as becoming "paranoid".
The day after the shooting, a local firearm and outdoor supply store, Worlds End Warehouse, issued a statement on their Facebook page, confirming that Bourque was known personally by employees of the store but that he "was never a customer and never purchased firearms or ammunition from [them]".
One of Bourque's friends described an incident where Bourque had gone camping with several coworkers and brought "his rifle with him, without ammunition, which he held onto the whole night while drinking. That kind of freaked us out, so we didn't invite him the next time". It remains unclear if anyone had previously reported safety concerns related to Bourque's firearm possession, but local police stated that he "was not known to them". In Canada, individuals who are concerned about the mental state or intentions of a firearms owner can notify the Canadian Firearms Program so that police can investigate.
Following his arrest, Bourque claimed that he originally planned to harm the oil industry by setting fire to several Moncton gas stations and then shoot random people, but abandoned the plan due to issues with his bicycle. He purchased the .308 Poly Technologies Model M305 battle rifle used in the shootings on July 24, 2009, legally, but had an