Chief credits public, media
It was a digital dragnet that caught Justin Kuijer.
On the run for five days, Kuijer travelled thousands of kilometres from Niagara, where he was wanted in connection to a stabbing at a bank and the death of his seven-year-old stepson Nathan Dumas.
Although police received dozens of tips, they brought officers no closer to their quarry. Kuijer was in the wind.
But he couldn’t stay hidden forever. His face and the description of the van he was driving spread across the country in news stories and on social media.
Niagara Regional Police Service’s own social media advisories were shared more than a half-million times.
The general public, from British Columbia to the Maritimes, became the eyes and ears of the Niagara police.
“The media have been exemplary partners with us in this manhunt,” NRP Chief Jeff McGuire said during a press briefing Wednesday. “Keeping the face of Kuijer on the front pages, on the newscasts, on all the live media streams, social media; it is because of those efforts that Kuijer is in custody today,”
The 43-year-old St. Catharines man was arrested without incident late Tuesday afternoon in Kenora in Walmart parking lot.
He is charged with attempted murder and first-degree murder.
During the press briefing, McGuire said the grey Pontiac Montana van Kuijer was driving was recognized by someone who saw pictures circulated in the news media.
“Two thousand kilometres and five days later a normal citizen was able to act on information (the news media) assisted us in sharing right across the country,” McGuire said.
McGuire said Kuijer was expected to be in the custody of the NRP by Wednesday evening.
Ontario Provincial Police, who made the arrest, were scheduled to fly Kuijer to an airport closer to Niagara, where NRP officers would pick him up and drive him back to the region.
McGuire said he would not disclose what airport, but said Kuijer is expected to appear in St. Catharines bail court today.
Kuijer had been on the run since the Friday stabbing at a St. Catharines bank.
Police say a man entered RBC on Martindale Road at about 10:30 a.m. and stabbed a female employee before driving off in a grey van.
About 15 minutes before the first 911 call from the bank, NRP officers had been called to an apartment at 173 Queenston St. where a child had been found gravely wounded.
Nathan’s mother Whitney Dumas had been at a work meeting that morning and came home to find Kuijer, her ex-boyfriend, at the front door with his bags packed. She told
The Standard she had recently broken up with him, and he told her he was packed and ready to leave.
Dumas asked Kuijer to come inside so they could discuss arrangements for their three kids, Nathan, his fouryear-old stepbrother and baby stepsister. She said Kuijer asked for the keys to her van to go and buy a coffee first.
“That’s when I went into the house and found my son,” Dumas said.
Dumas called 911 and Nathan, a Grade 2 student at Harriet Tubman Public School in St. Catharines, was taken to St. Catharines hospital in critical condition.
Not knowing where Kuijer was, police officers were assigned to the hospital and the school as a security precaution.
Nathan died in hospital Saturday morning. His funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Pleasantview Funeral Home at 2000 Merittville Hwy. just east of Fonthill.
NRP officers investigating the bank stabbing quickly identified the van Kuijer was driving, which lead them the Queenston Street apartment and allow them to connect the two cases, McGuire said.
Police say the woman stabbed at the bank knew Kuijer professionally. At the press briefing, McGuire said he would not discuss the motive for the stabbing other than to say the victim was deliberately targeted.
Police have not revealed the identity of the woman who was stabbed, but McGuire said she is still recovering in hospital and issued a public statement to the police.
“She and her family want to offer their condolences to Nathan’s family and want to thank the public for their assistance in apprehending Kuijer,” McGuire said. “She would also like to thank the police for their work and dedication and the healthcare network for the treatment she has received and her employer, RCB Financial, for all the assistance and support they have provided to the victim and their family.”
On Sunday police said they intended to seek Canada-wide warrants for Kuijer for attempted murder and first-degree murder. When the warrants were issued Monday, the murder charge had been downgraded to second-degree murder.
However, McGuire said upon Kuijer’s arrest, the charge had been upgraded back to first-degree murder.
Const. Phil Gavin said at the time the warrants were issued, the evidence presented to the Crown attorney’s office supported a seconddegree charge. Further investigation supported a first-degree murder charge, he said.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, murder in the first degree is defined as “murder when it is planned and deliberate.” All other murder is classified as seconddegree murder.
McGuire, who previously worked for the Toronto Police Service, said he could not recall another case that generated the degree of public interest and engagement as the manhunt for Kuijer did.
Aside from national news coverage, the NRP’s own social media bulletins were shared more than 600,000 times, Gavin said. Local detectives also received phone calls of support from police across the country, including a pair of officers on an Alberta highway who said they were keeping an eye out for Kuijer.
Police said they received more than 65 tips about vans matching the description of Dumas’s vehicle from across Canada, including the west and east coasts.
McGuire said the entire Niagara community has been impacted by Friday’s events, and the chief’s voice noticeably wavered during the press briefing as he talked about the impacts on the families and the community.
He said he received a letter from a staff member at Harriet Tubman School, thanking police for protecting staff and students. The chief said he is pleased police made people feel safer, but he is aware the presence of police officers implies a potential threat, which can be frightening.
McGuire, who spent a decade in Toronto as a homicide detective, said investigations like this take their toll on police officers as well.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work the men and women of our service have done. I spent 10 years in homicide and they are not easy cases,” he said. “We all humans before we are cops. We have kids. We have grandkids.”