The case of Shawn William Martinot

Summary:

Paragraph 4 reads: "Tests later found traces of an anti-depressant in his bloodstream."

Source: SSRI STORIES

Inquest into La Ronge man's death goes to jury

A coroner's jury will deliberate on the case of La Ronge man who died in a hail of bullets after smashing vending machines and confronting police with a gun.

Shawn Martinot died with 16 gunshot wounds in August 2004 after his fatal encounter with the police.

Over the past week, the inquest into his death heard the 38-year-old lived and worked at the Northland Hotel in La Ronge and, according to witnesses, had been drinking the day before the incident.

Tests later found traces of an anti-depressant in his bloodstream.

A co-worker testified she became scared when Martinot began smashing vending machines with a sledgehammer. He had a rifle next to him at his table as well.

Police came to the hotel and a 17-hour standoff began. The RCMP used a robot to fire tear gas at Martinot, but he shot and disabled the device. Martinot eventually came into the hallway where police were waiting. He had a gun in his hands and police shot him. He died.

The six-person jury is expected to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

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OUTCOME

JUNE 8, 2006

Negotiating teams -- whose job is to bring order and calm out of the chaos of a standoff between police and armed suspects -- should consider asking the suspect's family for help, a coroner's jury recommended Tuesday.

During the 17-hour standoff between RCMP officers and Shawn William Martinot at the Northland Motor Hotel in La Ronge on Aug. 29 and 30, 2004, that didn't happen.

When it was over, Martinot's body was riddled with 16 gunshot wounds.

Over the course of a six-day inquest which began last week, a fi ve-member jury of men and women from La Ronge and Air Ronge were told that the 38-year-old, who lived and worked at the hotel, was drinking heavily over the previous weekend and had traces of an antidepressant in his system.

At some point during the morning of Aug. 29, Martinot used a sledgehammer to smash up a vending machine in the hotel.

He had a rifle next to him at his table in the hotel lounge, a staff member told the inquest.

Police were called, and while they were on their way, Martinot went to his room.

Knowing he was armed, police evacuated the rest of the hotel and a neighbouring apartment building. As the day wore on, the RCMP emergency response team was flown to the northern town from Regina.

Martinot refused to give himself up.

The team eventually sent in a robot armed with tear gas. Martinot shot the robot and disabled it, but not before the gadget had delivered its eye-burning payload.

Flushed from his room by the gas, Martinot was still carrying a gun when he walked into the hallway toward the offi cers. He refused to put it down, so they opened fi re.

He died at 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 30.

According to an acquaintance in La Ronge who spoke to the StarPhoenix soon after the shooting, Martinot moved there from Flin Flon, Man., about two years before he died, at the urging of a friend who worked at another nearby hotel.

"I think if they would have let someone in there who really knew him, to talk to him, they might have been able to talk him out," the man said.

"But they wouldn't let anyone in there because he had a rifl e." Martinot's mother, Gladys Martinot, told the inquest that if anyone had called her at home in Flin Flon during the standoff, she would have come to the scene and tried to make her son see reason.

A coroner's inquest is held to determine the time, place and manner of a death, and to make recommendations for ways to avoid a similar incident in the future. It is not responsible for assessing criminal or civil responsibility.

The jury's six recommendations included: adding at least one "non-police professional negotiator trained in police procedures, critical incidents and intelligence gathering" to negotiating teams; that one person on the team be responsible for communications and intelligence-gathering; the inclusion of third parties such as family members or health professionals; a review of RCMP procedure to include briefi ng of all members arriving on the scene so that information is consistent; and reviews of existing support equipment, such as robots and static shields.

The recommendations are not legally binding on the RCMP.