Regina police chief addresses three weekend murders

In the wake of three murders in Regina over two days, Police Chief Evan Bray said time is the only link, but they do point to common themes of drugs and weapons fuelling violent crime.

“Although they happened within a week’s time period, really that’s the only link we’re seeing. There is no connection between these three incidents that happened; they just happened within a fairly tight time frame,” Bray told reporters after the board of police commissioners meeting Tuesday.

Bray described the tight time frame as a “feverish pitch” requiring investigators from all corners of the police service to help find answers for the families torn apart by these tragedies.

Police charged a 17-year-old with second-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Majok Majok on Friday in a home on Wascana Street.

On Saturday, 24-year-old Isiah Allary was found critically injured outside a home on Rae Street. Police charged 25-year-old Devon Cyr with first-degree murder after Allary died in the hospital.

On Monday, police confirmed they are investigating a murder in the death of 49-year-old Rodney Ruberry, who was found in medical distress on Friday on Dewdney Avenue. At this point, police don’t have any suspects in Ruberry’s death.

The violent weekend brought the yearly total of murders in the city up to four, including the death of 29-year-old Keesha Cree Bitternose; she was found dead on Cameron Street on Jan. 5. There are still no charges in connection with her death.

“There’s no evidence to indicate that those three are linked. They are also incidents that have happened where there was some sort of pre-existing relationship,” Bray said. “It doesn’t mean that there was a positive relationship but the people that were involved knew each other.”

While these crimes do not appear to be connected or random, Bray said they do show a common thread pointing to the wider police issues of drugs and weapons in the city.

“(They’re) incidents that oftentimes take that real tragic twist when you’ve got alcohol or drugs involved, when you’ve got weapons present and anger is flaring and that’s what we’re seeing in these cases,” Bray said.

Bray noted that gangs do play a role in criminal activity in Regina, but he said the police are not in a position where they can say any of these specific murders are gang-related.

While he also stopped short of saying these specific crimes were fuelled by drugs or alcohol, he said they are factors. The high prevalence of guns and weapons in this city creates a dangerous mix.

“There are weapons present constantly now, not only in vehicles and in homes but on people. People are carrying firearms (and) people are carrying edged weapons,” Bray said.

“When you have that kind of a spark that happens, people aren’t making good decisions when they’re under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They have a weapon on their hip or in their pants and the ability for them to use it quickly has dire consequences and that’s really what we’re seeing here in the last week.”

Bray said the high prevalence of weapons has changed the landscape of law enforcement in the city. When asked about laws to help combat firearms in particular, he said those laws only work for law-abiding people.

“To me, it’s more about holding offenders accountable, making sure we can put some restrictions and conditions in place that prevent them from being in a position where they can commit these crimes again, rigorous enforcement and then helping our community try and dig into things from the other side which is the social side.”

Bray said it’s easy to teach people steps to protect themselves from property crimes like theft, but preventing violent crime becomes a lot more complex.

“It has to be an all-hands-on-deck approach and it can’t just be police,” he said. “We’ll continue to work feverishly to do what we can and we’ll continue to work with our community partners to try and find ways that we can help those with addictions, to help those that are finding themselves in a situation that might not be safe, and ways that we can provide safety to them in a proactive basis. But again, (that’s) very challenging to do.”

He said many community partners have a role to play alongside police in providing services to those who are vulnerable due to mental illness and addictions so they don’t put themselves and others in harm’s way.