Police killer was under investigation
HARASSMENT FILE: Hate crimes unit was probing Norman Raddatz’s actions against a man and his family
EDMONTON — Police killer Norman Walter Raddatz posted on his Facebook page about bylaw tickets he considered “constant harassment” by “taxation pirates,” railed against the courts and government, called homosexuals “sodomites,” and police “pigs.”
He maintained that the capitalized spelling of a person’s name on government and bank documents was part of a pervasive corporate conspiracy.
“They will have to drag me to court by force. I will not voluntarily enter a corrupt Admiralty Court,” Raddatz, 42, wrote on the social media site after receiving a bylaw ticket last summer.
Raddatz is the only suspect in the shooting death of 35-year-old police Const. Daniel Woodall in Edmonton on Monday night. Sgt. Jason Harley survived being shot in the back.
The body of a man believed to be Raddatz was found in the basement of the home after the shooting and a fire. An autopsy is to confirm the identity and cause of death.
Edmonton Police Service spokesman Scott Pattison said Wednesday the criminal harassment file being investigated by Woodall and the hate crimes unit involved antiSemitic harassment over more than a year. Pattison described it as a “lengthy campaign of anti-Semitic hatred and violence” against a man and his family.
“It was taken extremely seriously. I think obviously to the point where Monday evening they were going to execute that warrant and address the situation,” Pattison said.
Police have said there were no indications Raddatz was part of the Freemen-on-the-Land movement, considered by the FBI to be a serious threat to law enforcement.
Posts on Raddatz’s page clearly espouse views that reflect the Freemen movement and the broader sovereign citizen ideology in which people believe they are exempt from the law unless they consent to be governed by it.
The page is under the name Dino Stomper, but is confirmed to be Raddatz’s by multiple sources. It features pictures of his motorhome and bylaw tickets issued to his home address. A neighbour has described ongoing bylaw issues.
The divorced refrigerator mechanic was in financial difficulty and described by friends as being depressed. His house was in foreclosure and being sold.
Raddatz had 16 Facebook friends, one of which was a separate account he had created for his dog.
In a series of posts, Raddatz counselled a Facebook friend about having “two names” — one being his given name, and the other a capitalized version that appears on documents. The idea of avoiding taxes, fines and criminal charges through the capitalization or punctuation of one’s name is a pervasive belief in the sovereign citizen and Freemenon-the-Land ideologies.
A person who was inside Raddatz’s home several times said there were “numerous guns” and stockpiles of ammunition, and that he spoke openly about hating Jewish people and did not believe in paying taxes.
Raddatz also posted from the Facebook account he set up for his dog, sometimes interacting between the two accounts.