Accused in Manitoba RCMP shooting no strangers to Manitoba courts

Less than a week after an RCMP officer was shot and wounded more details are emerging about the four men charged in connection with the shooting near Onanole, Man.

Two of the men have lengthy rap sheets, one with criminal charges that date back more than a decade.

Therae Racette-Beaulieu, 18, of Sandy Bay First Nation is accused of pulling the trigger of the gun that wounded Cpl. Graeme Kingdon last Wednesday night. He has been charged with two counts of attempted murder with a firearm. He has no prior convictions in adult court in Manitoba.

Racette-Beaulieu made his first court appearance Tuesday in Brandon. Dressed in grey prison garb, the appearance was brief, with his case being remanded to Thursday.

Two of the other accused — Delaney Marcus Houle, who also appeared in court Tuesday, and Shane Donovan Beaulieu — will also appear in court in Brandon on Thursday.

Beaulieu, 30, is no stranger to the Manitoba court system.

According to court documents, his first conviction was in June 2006, when he was found guilty of being unlawfully in a dwelling house. He was sentenced to four months in custody and given a 10-year weapons ban.

He has also been convicted of break and enter, disguise with intent, possession of property obtained by crime, uttering threats, as well as several charges for failing to comply with court conditions. He was sentenced to 20 months in jail in 2015 on drug charges.

Beaulieu was also convicted of sexual assault in 2011, but failed to register as a sex offender, according to court records from 2016.

Houle, 23, only has one prior conviction in adult court for failing to comply with the conditions of a court order, for which he was fined.

The fourth man charged in the shooting — Tommy Edward Beaulieu, 21 — was scheduled to appear in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday morning.

He is also no stranger to Manitoba's court system, having been convicted of a number of weapons charges, vehicle or vehicle parts theft, possession of stolen property, fleeing police, trespassing, resisting arrest and drug offences.

At the time of his arrest, charges of assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and other weapons offences were still outstanding.

All four men face new charges including break and enter, possessing property obtained by crime and weapons offences.

The shooting happened as RCMP officers responded to a report of a break-in last Wednesday night at a residence near Onanole, a town located on the edge of Riding Mountain National Park, about 90 kilometres north of Brandon.

The officers were fired on as soon as they got out of their vehicle, police said last week.

RCMP arrested three of the suspects early Thursday at two different locations near Onanole, while the fourth was arrested in Neepawa, Man., later Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, Manitoba RCMP said the wounded officer was "doing well" and recovering in hospital.

All four men remain in custody.