Spiritwood Incident

The Spiritwood Incident occurred on 7 July 2006. The incident began in the town of Spiritwood, Saskatchewan, Canada, a community of about 1000 people located approximately 92 miles (148 km) Northwest of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and ended near Mildred, Saskatchewan, approximately 27 kilometres away.

On 7 July, two officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment in Spiritwood, Constable Robin Cameron (29) and Constable Marc Bourdages (26) responded to a complaint at a home close to the detachment. A man later identified as Curtis Dagenais, 41 of Spiritwood, fled the scene in a pickup truck. The officers followed, and the ensuing pursuit lasted 27 kilometres. During the chase, gunfire was exchanged between RCMP officers and Dagenais, resulting in both constables being shot in the head through their car windshield. Dagenais abandoned his car and escaped on foot. A massive manhunt failed to find Dagenais, who turned himself in without incident to the RCMP's Spiritwood detachment on 18 July 2006 after being hunted for 12 days.

The officers later died of their wounds, with Cameron passing away on 14 July, and Bourdages early the next morning, on 15 July.

During his trial, Dagenais argued he had not intentionally shot the officers. He claimed that he feared for his life and shot in blind panic out in self defence and that the officers fired first after ramming his truck. The Crown argued that it was Dagenais who had fired first and intentionally shot the officers.

After two days of deliberations, on 12 March, the jury found him guilty of two counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

See also

• Mayerthorpe Incident

External links

• Globe And Mail: Suspect in RCMP Slayings surrenders.
• Globe And Mail: RCMP officers succumb to their wounds
• CBC News: Jury convicts Dagenais of first-degree murder in Mountie killings