Moncton shootings hit home
June 10, 2014, 1:57 am
Kevin Weedmark
Many people closely followed the news from Moncton last week as police searched for a suspect who had shot five RCMP officers, three of whom died of their wounds.
No one in Moosomin followed the events more closely than Sgt. Joe Telus of the Moosomin RCMP.
“I watched it on the news like everyone else, trying to make sense of the tragedy,” Telus said Friday.
“It touches everybody when you see something like that unfold.”
When the news first hit, Telus was concerned about colleagues he had worked with who are now in Moncton.
“I had people working in Moncton—people I had worked with. My first reaction was hoping that it wasn’t them, and fortunately none of them were involved.”
“My heart goes out to the family of members killed or injured.”
Does a tragedy like Moncton bring home the risks of being a police officer?
“We know the risks,” says Telus. “It’s a job we decided to do because we want to help people. We want to serve the public and protect people. We all know the risks, but it still comes as a shock when something like this does happen. It brings it closer to home the dangers we face.
“You realize that if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.