The Moncton Shootings

 

On June 4th, 2014, there was a string of shootings in Moncton, New Brunswick that claimed the lives of three RCMP officers and injured two more. The shooting was Moncton's first homicide since 2010 and was the deadliest attack on the RCMP since the Mayerthorpe Tragedy in 2005. Which had left four police officers dead.

Justin Christian Bourque was 24 years old at the time of the shooting. He came from a religious family with seven children and was homeschooled. He moved out of his parents' house eighteen months before the shooting and moved into a trailer park in Moncton's Ryder Park neighborhood.

Moving out wasn't entirely his choice after his parents requested he leave following a dispute over him purchasing a second firearm. That added to the fact of his inappropriate behavior and his parents had just about enough.

Before the shooting, he had recently left his job at a grocery store and was hired by the distribution
warehouse Rolly's Wholesale Ltd. Many times when asked about the shooting, Justin Bourque says that he intended for the shootings to trigger a rebellion against the Canadian Government.

It all started at 6:00pm that evening when Justin and his friend purchased three boxes of ammunition. His friend didn't think much of it at the time as the two of them planned on going to a shooting range. But, not long after this Justin Bourque left his rented home, dressed camouflage and wearing a green headband. He was carrying with him an M14 rifle and a shotgun. He walked calmly through the trailer park passing several of his neighbors.

It was at 7:18pm when the first call to police came in about an armed man walking down the sidewalk on Pioneer Avenue. He was heading towards the woods west of the street. Twelve officers responded that night and set up a perimeter around the woods and neighborhood. He was first spotted by Constable Mathieu Daigle. Justin Bourque stepped out of the woods, crossed the street, and entered another wooded area that boarded backyards of houses.

Constable Mathieu Daigle sent out a radio transmission describing Justin, but there was some radio static which made the transmission difficult to understand. He was joined by Constables Fabrice Gevaudan and Rob Nickerson.

The three officers trailed Justin Bourque who was heading towards a house on Bromfield Court. It was here that five other officers were stationed. All of the officers intended on maintaining a visual on Justin while waiting for the arrival of Police Dog Services, which was scheduled any minute.

However, after heading towards a backyard at 7:46 pm, Justin Bourque opened fire. He allegedly heard one of the officers shouting the word “Hey!”. He ended up firing three shots at Gevaudan but missed. Gevaudan fled while radioing to the other officers that he'd been shot at. However, he was struck twice in the torso and died almost instantly.

It was only a few minutes later, that officers found Gevaudan's body and dragged it into a nearby garage where they attempted CPR. Unfortunately, Justin Bourque's rampage had only just begun. He fled the woods and surfaced somewhere southeast of McCoy street and walked a straight line on Mailhot Avenue.

It was only two minutes after he shot Gevaudan that he encountered Constable David Ross. Ross was driving a police SUV down the street. Upon seeing Justin Bourque, Ross pulled his service pistol and accelerated his vehicle toward Justin Bourque, just as Justin was turning to face him.

Ross fired two shots at him through the windshield just as Justin returned fire with his M14. He fired six shots and Ross was shot twice in the hand, twice in the left shoulder, and a fatal shot directed at his head. People believe that Ross was attempting to hit Justin with his car or get into firing range.

It was Constable Eric White who found Constable David Ross's body before he was forced to take cover behind the vehicle after he saw Bourque further down the street taking aim. By 7:54 pm Constable Martine Benoît arrived at the intersection of Hildegard Drive and Mailhot Avenue.

She had been brought there by a civilian who was following Justin Bourque and reporting where he was. But, Justin, who seemed to know the movements of the police had taken cover in a deeply shaded and wooded ditch. He opened fire on her and disabled her vehicle with the gunfire, making it impossible for her to escape.

It was Constable Éric Stéphane J. Dubois who responded to assist her but he too was wounded by gunfire as he tried to give her cover. However, Justin crossed Hildegard Drive and left. This gave Dubois time to flee to the local fire station nearby. But officer Benoît was unaware that she was safe and remained in her car before being picked up by another officer at 7:59 pm.

Seconds after the Hildegard shooting Constable Marie Darlene Goguen responded to the fire station and was shot at while she was still inside the vehicle. She was hit twice but was also able to flee the area thanks to Constable Donnie Robertson. Both Dubois and Goguen survived.

Communication was confusing and chaotic, and Justin Bourque just wasn't done. At 8:04 pm Constable Douglas Larche was plainly clothed, wearing body armor, and armed with a shotgun arrived at Mailhot Avenue.

He was spotted by Justin Bourque who was concealing himself behind several trees. He fired four shots at the officer and wounded him. The officer returned fire with seven shots, the nearby residents tried to warn the officer about Justin Bourque, but he was fatally shot in the neck as he was taking cover.

The entire exchange of gunfire lasted about 70 seconds. It was captured by nearby residents on a cellphone camera. Bourque fled the scene at 8:13pm escaping into the woods behind Isington Street. He was seen after that around Ryan Street and Wheeler Boulevard.

It was late night on June 4th when it was reported that three officers have been killed in the line of duty, and two more were hospitalized. The scary thing about it was that the killer was still at large. Throughout the shootings, and the manhunt that followed several people not only seen Justin Bourque but spoke to them then left without killing them. He also waved away civilians when they attempted to help the wounded officers.

After his family and friends recognized photographs of Justin that were on various news reports and social media posts they contacted the police. There were multiple sightings of Justin by both police and civilians on the second day of the manhunt. There were up to 300 officers involved in the search, and Justin's whereabouts were unknown, he was heavily armed, but a definitive perimeter and containment protocol was not established. All of the police officers' activities were considered high risk.

Pedestrians and motorists were asked to stay off the roads, public transit was suspended, and schools, government offices, stores, and businesses in the area were closed. Residents in the area were asked to lock their doors, leave their outside lights on, and stay off social media, particularly, from broadcasting police movements on social media sites.

It was the next day when police surrounded an apartment building. They broadcast a demand to exit over a public address system. It was more than a dozen armed officers who entered the building and deployed a robot with a camera inside the building at around 3:00pm.

It was only minutes later that they left the building with no sign of Bourque. The report that called the police to the building was a false alarm. They deployed a police helicopter with thermal imaging and at least 2 armed cars which were borrowed by the RCMP to transport heavily armed tactical team members.

It wasn't until June 6th, at 12:10 am that Bourque was arrested with the help of a Transport Canada surveillance Aircraft. Justin Bourque was spotted by a resident crouched below a window in a yard on Mecca Drive, and they called it in.

The lock-down was in effect for about 28 hours but was lifted shortly after the arrest. As he was being taken into custody, Justin reportedly said: “I'm done.” Justin Bourque was unarmed at the time of the arrest, but several weapons were found in the area. The following day the police searched a field and a wooded area nearby.

The poor victims that suffered at the hands of this senseless shooting were, 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 survivors were Cst. Éric Stéphane J. Dubois and Cst. Marie Darlene Goguen.

Justin Bourque had a history of scary behavior problems. A former co-worker of his had told police that Justin Bourque had a problem with authority. Having issues with parents, bosses, and police. Justin indeed had an anti-government and anti-authority view. He also had a fascination with conspiracy theories. He even talked about killing other people and himself.

It was only two days before the shootings that Justin ranted about all figures of authority to his own father. He was described as paranoid, during this conversation. It was the day after the shooting that a local firearm and outdoor supply store: Worlds End Warehouse had issued a statement on their Facebook page. They said that while Bourque was known personally by the employees he was never a customer, and never purchased firearms or ammunition from the store.

According to one of Bourque's friends, he was invited to a camping trip only once. He decided to bring his gun with him on the trip and although he never brought ammunition with him he made everyone nervous as he sat up drinking and holding the firearm. He was never invited on another camping trip again.

It's unclear if Justin Bourque had any other complaints about his firearms, but one thing is clear. The police had no knowledge of him before the shootings. Maybe some people were not aware that in Canada, if you are concerned about the mental state or intentions of a firearm owner, you can report to the Canadian Firearms Program and police will investigate.

After his arrest, Justin revealed an abandoned plan. Apparently, he originally planned to harm the oil industry by setting fire to several Moncton Gas Stations and then shooting random people. He however abandoned the idea, because he was having issues with his bicycle.

It was the media who first reported on Justin Bourque's Facebook page. His page was filled with images and jokey posts about the right to bear arms. They also reported that he made anti-police posts as well. And a post added the day of the shootings was a quote from Dave Chappelle: "You ever notice a cop will pull you over for a light out, but if your car is broke down they drive right past you?"
He also frequently shared slogans such as: "Free Med Do Not Ask Permission To Bear Arms" and "Militia is Only a Bad Word if You're a Tyrant."

He posted his beliefs that Canada was too soft to survive an impending attack. He also posted earlier in 2014, that people who were paying attention to the upcoming 86th Academy Awards were ignoring that: "The third world war could be right around the corner, wishful thinking isn't gonna stop this one." Three weeks after that he posted: "Canada is one of the world's most likely targets Russia would invade at the start of a war due to pushover resistance." It was only a few hours before the shootings that Justin Bourque posted the lyrics to "Hook in Mouth" a song by American thrash metal band Megadeth.

Justin Bourque admitted to committing the shootings and claimed he did it as an attempt to start a rebellion against a government that he viewed as oppressive, corrupt, and serving only the wealthy at the expense of other citizens.

It was under heavy guard that Justin made his first court appearance on June 6th, where he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Justin Bourque confessed to the shooting on videotape.

This recording was eventually released to the public five weeks after his trial was over. He made a brief appearance in court on July 3rd, and again on July 31st after taking a psychiatric assessment, which was requested by his lawyer. Bourque was found fit to stand trial.

On August 8th Justin Bourque pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, and two counts of attempted murder, and on August 27th, he apologized to the families of the RCMP victims. It wasn't until October 31st, that Chief Justice David Smith gave Justin Bourque two concurrent life sentences. This was for the two attempted murder charges. Also, three consecutive 25-year minimum sentences for three murders in the first degree, without the possibility of parole for 75 years.

This ruling, which fell under the federal government's 2011 enactment was considered the harshest sentence is given since the abolition of capital punishment in Canada in 1967.