ESTEVAN - An Estevan man is facing 10 charges and has already made a few court appearances following a shooting that occurred in Estevan.
William Joshua Curtis, age 40, is charged with one count each of attempted murder by discharging a firearm; pointing a firearm; discharging a firearm; aggravated assault; possession of a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence; uttering threats; manufacture of ammunition while unauthorized; and possession of a firearm while prohibited. He is also charged with two counts of manufacture of a firearm while unauthorized.
All charges are under the Criminal Code. None of them have been proven in court.
The charges were announced by the Estevan Police Service on April 10, two days after the incident. Curtis made his first court appearance in provincial court in Carlyle on April 10, and was in Weyburn court the following day. He also appeared in Estevan Provincial Court on April 15. All three appearances were by video.
At his most recent appearance, a judicial interim release report was requested, but he would have to remain in his residence with electronic monitoring. He currently remains in custody, and his next court appearance is slated to occur by video on April 22 in Estevan.
According to the EPS, at approximately 8:23 p.m. on April 8, they received a report that an individual had been shot in the 1600 block of Third Street and the armed male suspect had fled the scene. Residents in the neighbourhood were asked to shelter in place within their basements.
An immediate response to the occurrence included the deployment of EPS patrol members, the Joint Tactical Support Team (JTST) of the Estevan and Weyburn Police Services, Estevan RCMP detachment members, RCMP International Border Enforcement Team members, the Regina Police Service Air Unit, and members of Estevan Fire Rescue Service and Estevan Emergency Medical Services.
Estevan Deputy Police Chief Warren Morrical estimated that up to 40 officers were deployed in Estevan at various stages of the response.
"That would be officers on scene and directly responding, officers that were in the critical incident command centre, myself and some of the team leads for tactical and negotiations, as well as other officers that were in support – dispatchers, scribes," said Morrical.
A number of drones were flying in the Estevan area as well.
While containing the scene and searching for Curtis, the EPS said they determined he had barricaded himself in a residence in the 1700 block of Third Street, where the EPS said he refused to communicate or comply with directions from members to surrender into custody.
The EPS said an RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT) unit was subsequently deployed to the scene, where a tactical armoured vehicle and a chemical agent were used to successfully arrest Curtis. No shots were fired during the ERT team's entry into the residence, but loud noises could be heard.
"The source of that noise was most likely the … windows being removed or being physically taken out of play so that we could engage the chemical agent that we used," Morrical said.
The 1600 and 1700 blocks of Third Street were closed from when the incident occurred until the following morning and Highway 39 was shut down from 16th Avenue to Sister Roddy Road.
"Given the location of that residence, the backyard of that residence backs onto the walking path and onto the area where vehicles would be travelling through the valley," said Morrical.
He added that the EPS continues to investigate where Curtis was from when the shooting occurred until he returned to his residence nearly three hours later.
"We're still in the process, through the investigation, of attempting to account for every minute if we possibly can. Given that we're relatively early on in confirming all of those things, I don't want to comment one way or the other," said Morrical.
The EPS alerted the public through social media channels that a firearm had been discharged and people were asked to avoid the area. Morrical said consideration was given to issuing a notification through the Saskatchewan Alert app, but the EPS decided it wasn't necessary when they found out Curtis was in his residence.
Morrical said he is going to be learning more about the Sask Alert app and if they can send out an alert specifically for the community and not for the entire province.
"Through all of this, we'd identified that typically our contact for that program is through our EMO [emergency measures organization] director Helen Fornwald. Subsequent to that … we're looking at additional ways that police can have access to that specific application," said Morrical.
The deputy police chief applauded the other agencies involved with the response and said their co-operation led to Curtis' apprehension.
The victim of the shooting received medical care stemming from a single gunshot wound. He was in stable condition the night of the incident. He has since been released from hospital and is recovering from his wound. The EPS said none of the responding police, fire or EMS members were injured during the incident.
The Mercury and SaskToday will have more details as they become available.
