Shooter: history of violent offences
The RCMP have identified the man who shot the two officers as Shawn Maxwell Rehn, a 34-year-old with a long history of violent offences. We won’t list them here but researching other stories about the St. Albert shootings will enable you to learn more specifics.
One officer he shot was Aux. Const. Derek Bond, 49, treated for serious arm and torso wounds and released. The other was Const. David Wynn, 42, shot in the head and not expected to survive. He is kind and generous with his time and said to be invaluable to local school programs. Kids love and respect Const. Wynn and he is by all accounts a great officer and a great man.
The constables went into a casino at 3 a.m. to investigate reports of a stolen vehicle. They did not know the suspect had a weapon and though he was very well known to police were unaware what they were about to face. They were shot, the RCMP said, at close range and Const. Wynn had no time to draw his service revolver. As an auxiliary officer, Bond did not carry a weapon.
Shooting suspect found dead
Rehn was tracked to an unoccupied rural home near the casino. It was not his home but the police managed to ascertain he was there. The stolen vehicle was outside the home.
The RCMP say they did not speak with him nor did they fire a weapon. They went into the home and Rehn was found inside, dead. There’s been no report of how he died but it seems likely he took his own life.
Rehn had what RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said was a “complex” and lengthy list of offences. He had “veritable labyrinth charges” and convictions, of violence acts and arms offences. And here’s this: he was banned from possessing a firearm for life and yet had broken that ban before this weekend.
“I’ve been in policing for 30 years and not seen the likes of what I’ve seen here,” Paulson said, meaning Rehn’s record and his presence in the community despite it. “We need to understand if it was reasonable for this man to be walking around us.”
Lenient on violent offenders
If he did in fact have a lifetime ban on possessing weapons — and I’ve no reason to doubt Comm. Paulson — and had broken it on prior occasions, then Comm. Paulson’s implied question is an important and vitally pertinent one.
Why is someone like Rehn, again if these things are true, able to move freely in society? And there have been many others, including, for example, Kenneth Michael Knutson, 36, banned in 2002 from possessing firearms for ten years yet convicted of breaking that ban in 2009.
But the law only gave him a slap on the wrist and last month Knutson shot RCMP Cpl. Jean-Rene Michaud, 40, in Kamloops during a routine traffic stop. Cpl. Michaud was badly wounded and at last report is still facing medical complications. He is lucky to have survived.
Being banned from possessing a firearm is serious. There should not be a second chance. If you’re caught with a weapon after being banned from having one that’s it. Done.
Give a person three square meals a day, let ’em play pick-up basketball and watch hockey on television. Throw in movies, books, a few hours of internet a week and all the yard time they want. But that’s it — jailed for life.
Stricter laws on repeat offenders
If we like, we can feel sorry for someone who continually breaks laws around violence. Blame it on their upbringing, society, whatever. Maybe we can even justifiably put the blame elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean we can trust them.
Shawn Maxwell Rehn and Kenneth Michael Knutson should not have been in a position to shoot those officers. Why should our police have to face men like that? Because we feel bad for them and want to give them a second and third and tenth chance?
Not convinced? What about the story of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch? In Surrey last September she was the random victim of Raymond Lee Caissie, 42, a high-risk sex offender. After 22 years behind bars, he was released despite indicating he was afraid of what he might do. He had a variety of violent and sexual offences on his rap sheet as he headed back into society and soon after killed that unfortunate young girl.
How is it the voices that are heard the loudest are the voices that insist our laws should be about rehabilitating violent persons? I get it many offenders deserve more than one chance but not violent offenders, not those who have violent convictions and are still carrying weapons. It doesn’t take a genius to know it will lead to incidents like the one in St. Albert.
Violent offenders should be behind bars. It’s too late for Serena Vermeersch, and others, and maybe too late for Const. Wynn, though that isn’t certain and we hope, but it’s not too late for future victims of crime perpetrated by persons who should never have been free to commit those crimes in the first place.
It’s difficult to talk about these cases without all the facts, but not impossible.
