The wife and family of an RCMP officer who suffered ‘grave’ injuries after he was shot Saturday morning in a St. Albert casino thanked the public and RCMP for support Monday, but said they were saying their goodbyes.
RCMP said the condition of Const. David Matthew Wynn, 42, a St. Albert officer who suffered a gunshot wound to the head during an investigation, remained unchanged overnight.
Late Monday afternoon, Shelly MacInnis-Wynn addressed reporters at RCMP K-Division headquarters in Edmonton. She thanked RCMP for their support.
“I never really knew what kind of a family the RCMP were, until now, and they are just unbelievable,” MacInnis-Wynn said.
Meanwhile, she said the family was ‘saying goodbye’.
“We’re saying our goodbyes today, and then from there he’ll be in a better place,” MacInnis-Wynn said.
MacInnis-Wynn said their home, and her husband’s many memories as a paramedic are in Nova Scotia – she said all messages they had received since the weekend had been passed on to her husband.
“I’ve told him that you’ve all sent messages and are thinking about him,” MacInnis-Wynn said. “Thank you to anyone who’s been thinking about him.
“Just, thank you.”
Later, Deputy Commissioner Marianne Ryan released a short statement:
"We have watched the Wynn family handle these tragic circumstances with grace and courage, and this has served as a source of strength for those around them," Ryan said.
The news conference came after Deputy Commissioner Marianne Ryan, in charge of the RCMP in Alberta, told a news conference Sunday evening that Wynn had not regained consciousness and that they do not expect him to survive.
Const. Wynn and auxiliary officer Const. Derek Bond were investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle at the Apex Casino in St. Albert early Saturday morning when they were shot.
Bond was wounded in the right arm and torso, taken to hospital and subsequently released.
During an interview on CTV Morning Live, St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse touched on the impact the shooting has had on the city. "They are community members and their families, they are our coaches, our teachers, our mentors, our next door neighbours," said Crouse, "I think that when the RCMP are traumatized like this, they are really our family, our friends and I think the community will show that."
Shawn Rehn, 34, identified by RCMP as the shooter, was found dead at a home east of St. Albert.
Rehn had a lengthy criminal record, including; theft, break and enter and weapons possession charges.
Court documents obtained by CTV News date back to 1998 with the most current document dated 2015. Rehn was to have appeared in court on January 6, 2015, but did not show up.
With files from David Ewasuk
