RCMP was not prepared for Moncton shooting
MONCTON, N.B.— RCMP officers were caught outgunned and “ill-prepared” to confront a gunman who targeted them on a warm spring night in 2014, a judge ruled Friday as he convicted the national police force of failing to provide its members with adequate use-of-force equipment and user training.
Judge Leslie Jackson was harshly critical of how long it took the RCMP to equip its officers with carbine rifles ahead of the Moncton attack, which left three Mounties dead and two others injured.
Justin Bourque had targeted police officers in hopes of sparking an antigovernment rebellion.
“It is clear to me that the use-offorce equipment available to those members on June 4, 2014, left them ill prepared to engage an assailant armed with an automatic rifle,” the provincial court judge said in his 64page decision.
Rank and file members told the Labour Code trial they were outgunned by Bourque, who roamed a Moncton neighbourhood and opened fired on officers as people walked dogs and children played in yards nearby.
Constables Fabrice Gevaudan, Dave Ross and Doug Larche were killed, while constables Eric Dubois and Darlene Goguen were injured in the shootings.
The C8 carbine rifle was a central focus of the trial.
The high-powered weapons were not available to general duty officers at the time of the Moncton shootings and numerous witnesses who testified said they could have made a difference.
Carbine rifles were approved for use in 2011, but their rollout was delayed on several occasions.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Friday’s decision “carries important implications” and that the Trudeau government would be studying it carefully.
Jackson found the Crown did not prove its case on two other Labour Code violations, and issued a judicial stay on a fourth charge.