PUBLICATION:        The Edmonton Sun 

DATE:                         2004.03.03

EDITION:                    Final 

SECTION:                  Editorial/Opinion 

PAGE:                         11 

ILLUSTRATION:     photo CPL. JIM GALLOWAY Why did he die? 

BYLINE:                     KERRY DIOTTE, EDMONTON SUN 

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TOO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

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There are scores of unanswered questions about the tragic police standoff with a gunman this past weekend.

RCMP Cpl. James Galloway died Saturday in the Spruce Grove standoff after an encounter with Martin Charles Ostopovich, 41, who was shot and killed by police. But given the non-communicative nature of both RCMP and justice officials, it is not likely that citizens will be getting much of an answer to their good questions.

Why is it that Canada's $1-billion-plus gun registry failed in this case? Ostopovich had faced police charges on two occasions: for improper storage of a firearm and for threatening a man with a baseball bat.  He also was known to have serious mental problems, yet still managed to have access to weapons in his home.

Relatives told the Sun that police knew the man was schizophrenic. If a gun registry cannot keep weapons out of the hands of people with mental illnesses and police records, is it of any use?

One of the biggest questions is why Galloway, a police dog handler and 31-year veteran of the force, had to die at all.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and I do not pretend to be an expert in police tactics, but I have witnessed many standoffs between armed suspects and cops. This was not a case of someone who was holed up and just feeling depressed. This was a case of a highly agitated person who had made death threats that day against police and was known to have the weapons to carry out his dark deed.

Ostopovich had called CFRN-TV and spewed out his anger in a dire warning to weekend anchor Rob Williams.

Ostopovich told Williams his name, confessed he was armed with two rifles and declared: "Somebody is going to die today. I'm not giving in to their crap."

Williams alerted RCMP and headed to the scene.

Granted, the situation unfolded quickly when the armed Ostopovich made a run from the home. Tactical police had the house surrounded, yet it was Galloway, tragically, who was first in line of fire.

When police officers have died in the past in Canada it has most often happened when they were surprised while stopping a motorist or wound up struggling one-on-one with a suspect. This fatal shooting happened at a scene that was supposed to be contained by a small army of police. 

Finally, there is another question RCMP owe it to the public to answer. Why is it that when they knew a dangerous man was holed up in his home, they did their best to downplay this to the public?

Many hours after RCMP had the suspect's house surrounded with a tactical team, they put out a news release to media that did virtually nothing to warn the public of the severity of the situation.

The release was headlined: Police respond to call for assistance in quiet subdivision.

It read: "The Spruce Grove RCMP have responded to (a) call for assistance made by a resident of a Spruce Grove subdivision. Police currently have the area blocked off and are being assisted by the K-Division emergency response team. A male occupant is alone in his residence, no one else is in the home. "At this point (no) one is being allowed into the immediate area while attempts are being made to peacefully resolve the situation."

If I resided close to where this gunplay wound up taking place, I would certainly expect more detail from police than that.

Sadly, it is unlikely any key questions will be answered on this case by perpetually tight-lipped RCMP until there is an official public inquiry. The sooner, the better.