WINNIPEG — Winnipeg police have confirmed Kevin Runke, a person of interest in the death of his wife Camille, died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds Monday.
Around 11 a.m. Monday, officers located Runke’s vehicle near St. Malo and attempted to stop him. Police say he drove off the road and into a wooded area and came to a stop.
READ MORE: “He finally got her, we knew”: Friends of St. Boniface murder victim want change
Fearing that Runke was armed heavily armed officers were deployed. After a period of time it was determined that Runke took his own life inside his car. He was alone.
His death is now being investigated by the Independent Investigations Unit of Manitoba.
READ MORE: Winnipeg police investigating husband of homicide victim shot in St. Boniface
Winnipeg police had been searching for 44-year-old Runke since his wife Camille was murdered on Friday in St. Boniface. He had been surrounded by heavily armed RCMP officers just south of St. Malo, about an hour south Winnipeg on Highway 59.
WATCH: Heavily armed officers approach a rural property near St. Malo, Manitoba
Camille, 49, was found shot dead outside her work at JB’s Trophy Shop on Marion Street Friday morning.
Court records show she had a restraining order against her soon-to-be ex-husband Kevin Runke on July 24th after he allegedly tried flooding her basement in the middle of the night.
Kevin was charged with mischief to property and was due in court on Monday, November 9.
WATCH: Deputy Chief provides media update
But her friends say he did much more and Camille would send her friends texts and photos of everything. They tell Global News he would learn her route to work and put nails on the road, break her windows, cut her break line, drain her oil and send her texts from a different number threatening to “jam” her wi-fi cameras.
Camille had installed security cameras outside her home in July and sources say she captured someone damaging her vehicle over and over again. Neighbour Barb Willer said she would park her truck blocks away from her home so it wouldn’t get damaged. It’s evidence she gathered along with text messages and phone calls she sent to her friends. Evidence she wanted them to keep safe in case anything happened to her.
Friends now say the system needs to change in order to better protect people like Camille.
“Camille did everything she could to protect herself,” Winnipeg police Deputy Chief Danny Smyth said Tuesday during a media briefing on the case.
The couple was married for several years and neighbours described them as fun and outgoing. But something changed this summer.
Kevin Runke worked at Bob’s Transmissions on Pembina Highway for more than a year when in June his boss says he just “disappeared”.
“He was a very good employee, he was happy,” said Bob Bertrand, “but he just deteriorated rapidly in the last couple months…he was having some attendance problems.”
Runke was let go at the end of June.
When Bertrand heard about what had happened, he said ,”we are shocked, disbelief, it wasn’t expected.”
Runke’s parents grew up in St. Malo where his father still lives. His mother passed away in 2011.
Comments