Convicted killer charged with attempted murder of Mountie
36- year- old man has lengthy criminal record, police say
A 36- year- old convicted killer has been charged with the attempted murder of Kamloops Mountie Cpl. Jean Rene Michaud during a traffic stop Wednesday.
Kenneth Michael Knutson, who’s well known to police across the Lower Mainland, appeared in a Kamloops courtroom Thursday afternoon.
He was injured in the exchange of gunfire that left Michaud in critical condition in hospital.
Knutson’s criminal history dates back to his teenage years: In 1997, he got three months for a break and enter in Coquitlam, where he grew up.
By 2001, the charges were more serious: assaulting a police officer, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.
On March 15, 2002, he fired a gun into the chest of his 21- year- old friend Christopher Lesniak inside a Coquitlam basement suite.
Lesniak died and Knutson was charged with seconddegree murder.
He later pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death, claiming the gun had gone off accidentally as he showed it to Lesniak.
Crown prosecutor Wendy Stephen said at the time that there was “no suggestion whatsoever that this was an intentional killing.”
“He had the gun. He was showing it to a friend and it went off truly by accident.”
Lesniak’s family disagreed, publicly criticizing the judicial system for letting Knutson off lightly.
Knutson was close to several low- level gangsters, including brothers Jesse and Jean Lahn, both of whom are now dead.
He knew members of the fledging Red Scorpion gang in Surrey in the late 2000s, before they were charged with carrying out the Surrey Six murders on Oct. 19, 2007.
Knutson was active in the Surrey drug trade, police said.
In January 2009, he was convicted of three firearms charges that stemmed from a police stop a year earlier.
After Surrey RCMP pulled Knutson and an associate over, he ran and tossed his cellphone and a Colt .45 into a field before he was apprehended.
Surrey Provincial Court Judge Jim Jardine found Knutson possessed a gun that “was loaded and cocked with one in the chamber.”
Knutson allegedly shot Michaud, a 40- year- old father of two, at about 2: 45 a. m.
He was arrested later that afternoon after a massive search around Kamloops involving helicopters and police dogs.
Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Cheryl Bush said three women were also arrested, but it’s not yet known if they’ll face charges.
“One of the females was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants,” Bush said.
Knutson is also charged with violating a firearms ban, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, and aggravated assault of a peace officer. He’ll be back in court on Dec. 18.
The Independent Investigations Office, which probes police incidents that result in serious injuries or death, said Thursday that Knutson’s injury was not serious enough to warrant its involvement.
Meanwhile, Michaud is expected to undergo additional surgery, Bush said. He has been able to speak to investigators.