Andrea Sands and Richard Warnica, Edmonton, Alberta (Edmonton Journal) – A 36-year-old RCMP constable was arrested Saturday after his wife was killed in their southeast Edmonton home.
Edmonton police were called to the two-storey house at 44 Jefferson Rd. after reports of shots fired just before 4:30 a.m., said Clifton Purvis, the executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which is heading the homicide investigation.
The constable, who has been a Mountie for about seven years, was arrested around 5:30 a.m. at a different location, Purvis said. “The exact circumstances around that, I can’t release at this time. There was no standoff, however.”
Purvis did not release the name of the officer or his wife, saying that family was still being notified of her death.
No charges had been laid as of Saturday night.
At a news conference Saturday, RCMP assistant commissioner Peter Hourihan said the police force was “deeply saddened by the event.”
“We extend our condolences to the family of the deceased and will do our utmost to support them during this very trying time,” said Hourihan, who is the officer in charge of criminal investigation for the RCMP’s “K” Division. “It’s a tragic situation.”
Hourihan said the officer was not on duty at the time of his wife’s death. He did have his service revolver at home because his job required him to be on call for his work as a traffic officer in a neighbouring community. If charges are laid against the constable, he will be suspended from duty, likely without pay, Hourihan said.
Neighbours in the Jackson Heights community said the couple moved into the home about a year ago and have two young boys. Police and Purvis both said no children were in the home at the time of the homicide. The children are now in the care of family members.
ASIRT is investigating the homicide with help from the Edmonton police. The agency has jurisdiction over all police officers in Alberta and investigates incidents or complaints involving serious injury or death that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer, according to ASIRT’s website.
“We are receiving full co-operation from the RCMP at this time,” said Purvis.
“I can tell you we have received a great deal of co-operation from eyewitnesses, individuals, neighbours and other police members that had contact and information in relation to this incident … We are working as quickly as we can to bring this to a resolution.”
Police cars remained parked Saturday night around the Jackson Heights house, which is located south of Whitemud Drive near 34th Street. The property was blocked off with yellow police tape and officers stood in the front yard.
A basketball net and two water guns were in the driveway in front of the home’s attached double garage, and a skateboard and hockey net were on the lawn. A “For Sale” sign stood in front of the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house that is listed for $429,900.
Next-door neighbour Hilda Shaw said the family was fairly reserved after they moved in a year ago, but she said the officer had recently chatted with her about wanting to move out of the city.
“This last couple of weeks, when we put up our house for sale … they decided to put their house up for sale, too, because they wanted to move out to an acreage as well, out to Stony Plain where he worked,” Shaw said.
“They were wanting to have a house on an acreage so the kids could run around and have a chance to play. He was a little bit edgy, probably in the last month or so, just wanting to go — wanting to move from the area.”
Vikas Kwatra, who lives a few houses down, said his children often played with the two boys at No. 44. He said he didn’t know the couple well but that they seemed like “a happy family.”
On Friday night, Kwatra said another neighbour told him he saw the officer pacing the sidewalk and talking on the phone. “He was upset,” Kwatra said.
Hours later, at about 4:20 a.m., Kwatra heard what he thought were seven or eight loud bangs from down the street, but went back to sleep. When he woke up, the police were at his neighbour’s home.
The early morning sounds also woke Harvey Gilbert, who lives a few houses down. Gilbert said he heard about four loud cracks sometime after 3 a.m., but didn’t think much of them at the time.
Raj Abbas, meanwhile, was awake when he heard what he took for the crack of a hammer three times in succession at about 4:20 a.m.
“It was abnormal to hear something like that,” Abbas, who lives down the looping street, said. “But I didn’t hear any cop cars or anything like that, so I thought it was somebody banging a hammer.”
Abbas went to bed about 20 minutes after hearing the bangs. It wasn’t until hours later, when he saw police cars surrounding a home down the block that he suspected something more may have happened.
News of the homicide shocked some neighbours.
Arti Verma said the couple seemed happy.
“They were talking about selling the house. They were painting,” Verma said. “She was a stay-at-home mom. The kids were always with her. They were so naughty and she was always after them.”
One neighbour, though, said he thought the couple had separated in February or March. Rod Harris said he often saw the officer’s marked RCMP vehicle. “Then I didn’t see him for the longest time.”
Harris, who lives across the street from the officer’s home, said he sometimes heard the couple arguing.
Just a few days ago, Harris said the officer stopped by and asked his roommate’s permission to use a camper that was parked outside.
“He wanted to use it for surveillance, because he thought someone was breaking into his house,” Harris said. “He said he was willing to pay to use it.”
Harris said his roommate declined because the camper belongs to a friend.
Hourihan said the RCMP cannot comment on the incident while it is under investigation. But he said that the service has measures in place to help officers and employees deal with personal and family challenges.
“As any organization, we want to look after the health and wellness of our employees,” he said. “In terms of a police organization, specifically, it is a stressful job, it is a stressful environment, and we want to make sure we do the utmost that we can to provide whatever services a member might need.”
An autopsy will be scheduled to determine how the woman died.
Recent Comments