And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 06:46:16 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Tsuu T'ina: Inquest to last 17 weeks Connie & Ty Jacobs
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Monday, March 22, 1999 from London Free Press
Band marks shooting anniversary
Inquiry into killing of mother and son now expected to last 17 weeks
By CAROL HARRINGTON, CP
TSUU T'INA RESERVE, Alta. -- Mondays on this reserve have begun recently
with a raft of lawyers reaching into their briefcases for photos and facts,
preparing for yet another week of testimony on the deaths of Connie and Ty
Jacobs. Not today. It was a year ago that an RCMP officer fatally shot the
aboriginal mother and her young son. Band members planned to honour the
anniversary with sorrowful prayer chants, spiritual sweetgrass and gifts of
food.
Tomorrow the lawyers, a handful of spectators and a judge will return to
the provincial fatality inquiry that was originally scheduled to last eight
weeks but has since been broadened to 17.
"The community needs to be satisfied that all of the facts emerge and that
all is being done to avoid recurrences of similar events in the future,"
said Don MacLeod, a lawyer representing the Tsuu T'ina
band southwest of Calgary. "Those who knew the Jacobs family have been
deeply and emotionally affected by the events." Those events are slowly
unravelling at the inquiry headed by provincial court Judge Thomas Goodson,
who is to make recommendations to prevent similar tragedies but cannot lay
blame. So far, testimony has come mostly from RCMP and Calgary police who
arrived at the Jacobs home
after Connie and nine-year-old Ty were killed by a 12-gauge shotgun blast.
Alberta's deputy chief medical examiner testified the two died almost
instantly by pellets that ripped through their hearts and shattered their
jaws. Eight more pellets were found embedded in the walls of the home. An
emergency response police team was called to the reserve during a blizzard
because officers were told there was a shootout between RCMP and Jacobs at
7:20 p.m.
They were also told Const. Dave Voller, who fired the shot, had been called
by social workers who were threatened by Jacobs when they tried to
apprehend her four children and two grandchildren. Almost four hours after
the shooting, RCMP stormed the Jacobs home to find Connie and Ty lying in
the doorway. The mother was clutching a 100-year-old rusty rifle in one
hand and a bullet in the other.
Family members have criticized police for leaving the pair lying in pools
of blood for hours, but several officers testified they thought Connie was
alive and still a threat. They said they had no idea a child had been shot.
The commander of the response team said police were justified in using
lethal force.
"It's unfortunate, but when someone is predisposed to kill you or wants to
kill you, you're gonna die," testified Insp. Dennis Massey.
Police found five children, aged 15 months to seven years, sleeping among
piles of dirty clothes in the cold basement.
Blood had seeped through the upstairs floor and was dripping into the
basement. Tiny bloody footprints were found beside the lifeless bodies
upstairs. A poster distributed by Connie's family at the inquiry reads:
"Four-year-old Jericko bravely went upstairs to witness his brother and
mother dying in a pool of blood. He was heard trying to wake up his mom."
Cynthia Applegarth, Connie's sister, said it's heart-wrenching to sit
through the inquiry. "Parts of it definitely are hard, like the part where
the one guy (police officer) was testifying and he
said he lifted Connie's head up by the hair to take the gun out," she said.
"It hurts to think that people would treat a deceased person in that
manner. It's so cold." Harry Jacobs, Connie's brother-in-law, is expected
to testify tomorrow.
Monday, March 22, 1999 Reserve to mark day of tragedy
By NOVA PIERSON, CALGARY SUN
Members of the Tsuu T'ina Nation will pause today to remember the first
anniversary of the deaths of Connie and Ty Jacobs. And in a mark of
respect, the fatality inquiry into the pairs' deaths
will not be sitting. Connie Jacobs, 37, and her son Ty, 9 died a year ago
today, when an Okotoks Mountie exchanged a shot with her at about 7:25 p.m.
"There's not a day that goes by you don't think of them," said Brian
Lambert, Connie's younger brother. "We have to deal with this every day."
Connie and Ty died almost instantly, but three of Connie's young children
and two of her grandchildren weren't taken from the home until 11 p.m. when
RCMP Emergency Response Team members arrived.
Voller had been called to help social workers take the children
from the home. Within days of the shooting Alberta Justice Minister Jon
Havelock ordered a fatality inquiry into the deaths, an inquiry
which is now in its second month and expected to finish in October.
Family members will say prayers and hold a sweetgrass
ceremony at the site of the shooting today. Lambert said the day is not
going to be an easy one. "Your emotions are high as the anniversary comes
up," he said. "But again, you have to deal with it."
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks, Creator
of the Manchurian Candidate
born New Brunswick
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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