Mounties too late to save woman from fatal attack

Mounties responding to a panicked 911 call about an armed intruder arrived to find a worst-case scenario — a Strathmore woman dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Former RCMP Cpl. Sean Doornbos said he was in charge of the detachment early Jan. 6, 2015, when he received a call from dispatch.

The report was that a woman had called from a Strathmore residence “stating something to the effect, ‘he’s got a gun, he’s trying to kill me,’ and a male voice saying ‘sorry,’” Doornbos said.

He said he rushed to the scene, followed a short time later by Const. Tyler Griffith, and discovered a window in the front door broken.

Doornbos told Crown prosecutor Lori Chambers that because of the potential of an armed assailant, they had to proceed with caution.

“We didn’t know what we were dealing with” Doornbos said. “We weren’t going to charge into this blindly.”

But when they received a second report from dispatch that a neighbour had called saying she heard gunshots and saw a man leaving, they decided to go in.

Inside, they found a woman on the opposite side of a kitchen peninsula. Once it was certain there was no one else present, he returned to the victim.

“I … checked for vital signs and didn’t find any,” Doornbos said.

Former Strathmore resident Glenn Randall is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Walker, with whom he had broken up just days earlier.

Meanwhile, Doornbos said he contacted Randall by cellphone as the suspect was driving on the Trans-Canada Highway and convinced him to turn himself in.

During his initial arrest, Doornbos noted a smell of alcohol on Randall’s breath.

“I drank a bottle and a half of wine,” Randall told the investigator.

The trial continues Thursday.