Family dispute erupted before fatal shooting of 2 Mounties, court hears

A night that ended in the fatal wounding of two Saskatchewan Mounties began with Curt Dagenais involved in an angry family argument in the town of Spiritwood, a Saskatoon jury has been told.

On Tuesday, the Crown began its case in the trial of Dagenais, who's charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the July 7, 2006 incident.

Constables Marc Bourdages, 26, and Robin Cameron, 29, received gunshot wounds to the head and died in hospital later, Crown prosecutor Scott Bartlett told the 12-person jury. A third officer, Const. Michelle Knopp, was injured.

Before the shooting, witnesses saw Dagenais heading toward the town, which is about 270 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

He went to his mother Elsie's home, several family members came out, and yelling ensued, Bartlett said.

'He was mad'

Court heard about the noisy dispute from the Crown's first witness, Grace Small, who is Dagenais's sister.  

"I could tell he was just upset," she said. "He was mad … just the look in the eyes."

Small said Dagenais's name was on the title of the house, and he was demanding that everybody leave.

Their mother Elsie was in the middle of divorce proceedings with their father, she told court.

"You've got one hour to get out of the house," she said Dagenais told her. "I took it as, 'Or else.'"

According to the Crown, Dagenais went to the town's RCMP detachment, where he asked for the RCMP's help to "remove certain people" from the property.

He left appearing to be unhappy, according to the Crown. 

Police chase truck

Relatives from the house came down to the detachment and were told not to go back to the house.

The RCMP then went looking for Dagenais.

Bourdages and Cameron, in one vehicle, and Knopp, in a second vehicle, found Dagenais parked on the street near his mother's house.

He took off in his truck, and they pursued him. The chase went east toward Mildred, about 30 kilometres away, with officers trying to position their vehicles to stop Dagenais.

During the chase, Dagenais's truck went from the highway to grid roads, into a ditch and across a field.

Bourdages and Cameron were the lead vehicle, and Knopp, in the less powerful vehicle, had to catch up.

Knopp arrived to find the police truck and Dagenais's truck stopped on a remote stretch of road.

As she was taking off her seat-belt, there was a bang and a hole appeared in her windshield, the Crown said. There was a second bang and a second hole.

She saw someone in Dagenais's truck pointing something at her, she took out her pistol and started firing, according to the Crown.

Knopp found Cameron in her vehicle, bleeding and unresponsive.

Bourdages was lying on the ground nearby, also unresponsive. There was no sign of Dagenais.

Cameron and Bourdages were taken to hospital. Cameron died July 15 and Bourdages died July 16.

Knopp, who was hit with bullet fragments in her ear, arm and torso, was also treated, but survived. Police found a Winchester rifle later, the Crown said.

30 witnesses expected to be called

More than 60 people, including relatives of Curt Dagenais and the families of the victims, were crowded into the courtroom. People were searched before they could go inside.

The Crown expects to call some 30 witnesses, including police officers, family members, forensic experts, pathologists and eyewitnesses.

The trial before Queen's Bench Justice Gerald Allbright and a 12-person jury is expected to last three weeks.