EDMONTON – One year after RCMP Const. David Wynn was shot in the line of duty at a casino in St. Albert lawmakers are honouring the fallen officer by trying to prevent similar tragedies.
On Jan. 17, 2015, Const. Wynn was investigating a stolen vehicle complaint with another constable when he was fatally shot by 34-year-old Shawn Maxwell Rehn at the Apex Casino in St. Albert.
Rehn left the scene, leading to a nine-hour manhunt. His body was later found at a nearby residence, dead of an apparent suicide.
READ MORE: Thousands pay respects to St. Albert RCMP Const. David Wynn at regimental funeral
Wynn started as a paramedic before joining the RCMP. His inspector called him “the finest example of a front line police officer.”
An east coast colleague said Wynn wanted to make a difference.
“He worked hard in his community to try and improve it each and every day, and that’s all we can ask of our police officers,” Chief John Collyer, Bridgewater Police Service, said.
St. Albert MP Michael Cooper believes Const. Wynn would still be alive if the judge who let the Rehn out on bail at the time of the shooting had known about his nearly 60 convictions and made a different decision. It’s the reason Cooper is reintroducing “Dave Wynn’s Law.”
“It is common sense legislation that would require the Crown to lead evidence of a bail applicants criminal convictions, outstanding charges and failures to appear,” Cooper said.
The bill was initially pitched last year by then-MP Brent Rathgeber, with support from Wynn’s widow Shelly Wynn-MacInnis.
“We have gosh knows how many people walking the streets day after day that could be in the same position my husband was in,” Wynn-MacInnis said in 2015.
READ MORE: Const. David Wynn honoured at RCMP commemoration in Regina
“Dave Wynn’s Law” lost steam with the change in government earlier this year but Cooper is hopeful the bill will receive support now.
He plans to take the bill back to Ottawa at the end of January.
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