The couple, a husband and wife, had been out boating that afternoon when they remembered the rhubarb from the cabin, and decided to stop in and pick some. The cabin was up a hill from the lake, and had been heavily boarded up, with planks and iron bars. As they walked up the hill the couple noticed that the planks had been pried away from the window and as they got closer Jonny appeared at the window, armed with a .22 rifle that he had stolen from inside. He pointed the .22 at them as he climbed out the window. The woman, who was a social worker in the city, began to calmly talk to him, while he, just a calmly, reached into his bag and pulled out the handgun and now they had two guns pointed at them. As the woman continued to talk to him Jonny opened fire with both guns, and the couple (which had been half way down the hill turned and fled to there boat. Jonny chased them a short distance and then threw the rifle at them. It stuck in the ground as they made their boat and headed to Waden Bay to call us.
We had a walk of several hundred metres down a trail to get to the cabin, and there are few things as unsettling as walking through a wooded area looking for someone who is armed. When we got to the cabin I set up a rifle where I could see the broken window and settled down into what would be my role for the rest of the incident, drawing all the biting insects in the north away from everyone else.
They say that police work is 95% boredom, punctuated with 5% of moments of shear terror, and I was well into the 95% part. There were about four of us at the cabin, and our Emergency Response Team was on its way from Regina. We had no idea whether or not he was still in the cabin and apart from a short trip to a near by cabin to see if he was there (he had been but probably before he went to the cabin) I spent the time staring through the scope of a rifle. About the time the ERT arrived in La Ronge the situation changed once again.
The conservation officer who had taken the initial report from the rhubarb pickers had the weekend off and was heading up to Southend to visit his in-laws for the weekend. Near Devil’s Lake he passed a young man hitchhiking who, from the description given to him, he figured was our suspect. As he passed he figured he’d drive quickly to Mickey’s camp and phone us and we’d be able to find him on the road. Then the car behind him pulled over and picked him up.
As everyone else left to join the chase I was left to wait for the ER Team to clear the cabin, as we couldn’t be sure that it was our guy on the road, and that he wasn’t still in the cabin. As dusk fell the few remaining biting insects found me, waiting for the guys in camouflage.
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This doesn’t sound boring. It sounds really interesting. This young man had you guys jumping and thinking.
Out of bullets? The story keeps getting stranger–why is he firing at people apparently for no reason?–then throwing guns at them!!?? Can’t wait to see how this turns out–but somewhat apprehensive it won’t turn out well.