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From Calgary Global TV
SASKATOON, 8:46 a.m. EDT May 22, 2001 -- A bankrupt businessman who allegedly shot a police dog after leading officers on a high-speed chase was shot and killed Sunday night -- the second fatal shooting by police in the Saskatoon area in a month.
Weeks before the incident Keldon McMillan, 33, a Saskatoon home builder, broke down in tears and confided to a friend that he was involved in legal action with a bank over business dealings, said confidant Andrew Clewes.
"They were going to lose everything," Clewes said Monday after learning of McMillan's death. "He thought he was going to lose his wife, too."
Clewes, a special needs bus driver, said his friend likely "just snapped" because he was depressed over losing his business and his mounting debts.
"Everybody's stunned."
He said McMillan -- a 240-pound muscular Metis man -- would present an imposing figure, especially if he was armed as police said.
The incident started at 9:30 p.m. Sunday when officers were dispatched to McMillan's home to arrest him on firearms charges, police said.
Officers were also going to serve McMillan with an order to have no contact his wife, stemming from an incident earlier in the weekend.
As an unmarked police car waited at the end of his block, McMillan drove up to his home but then decided to keep going, said a neighbour who asked not to be named.
Suddenly, he reversed his truck at high speed and retraced his path.
Another police car was waiting for him at the other end of the crescent, so McMillan drove through his yard and found his way onto Highway 41 with three police cars in pursuit.
"I watched the whole thing unfold. A cop ran right through our yard with a shotgun. It was actually quite shocking," said the neighbour.
Police laid down a spike belt near Aberdeen but McMillan drove around it. He continued until he drove over a second spike belt near Wakaw, about 80 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
His truck came to a stop on a dirt road just off the highway about two kilometres later.
With six RCMP and five Saskatoon police officers at the scene, McMillan got out of his truck and fired several shots in the air, police said. He was commanded to drop his handgun.
When he didn't, a police dog was let loose to attack.
McMillan shot and killed the dog and then "raised his weapon towards officers," said Saskatoon police Chief Dave Scott.
Police then shot and killed McMillan.
Scott said police are investigating who shot him and how many shots were fired.
The investigation will also look into whether officers acted properly as well as the circumstances surrounding the death.
The chief said he has no reason to believe police acted improperly, but would wait until the investigation is complete to comment further.
He said it's "absolutely tragic" any time anyone is killed.
Neighbours said McMillan, through his company McMillan Homes, built several of the houses on his crescent.
He had a wife and a young daughter, and the three had been seen together in the neighbourhood.
Clewes said a McMillan also had a son -- whom he saw every other weekend -- from a previous relationship.
"I've known Keldon for years. He was a kind, family man," Clewes said.
But his business went bankrupt earlier this year, said several friends and neighbours.
Just three weeks ago, another 33 year-old man was killed by police on the same highway outside Saskatoon.
Melvin Bigsky was shot after he was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations called for an inquiry into that shooting after a witness reported that Bigsky had been pepper-sprayed, clubbed and electrically shocked before the officer shot him.
From The Record.
Thursday May 23, 2001
SASKATOON (CP) - Police are to blame for a high-speed chase and armed standoff that ended in officers shooting a Saskatoon businessman, says the man's grieving mother. Officers should be reprimanded for such aggressive tactics, Victoria McMillan said Tuesday. The shooting occurred Sunday night. Police allege Keldon McMillan, 33, shot and killed a police dog before turning his gun toward officers.
"I'm blaming this on (police). They killed my son . . . None of this should have happened. Something's got to be done," Victoria McMillan said in an emotional interview at her home.
"He was a good son. We're so proud of him. Now he's gone."
It all started when police went to Keldon McMillan's upscale home to seize a suspected store of firearms, and to serve him with an order barring him from contact with his wife.
When McMillan arrived home, he drove through his yard and fled in his truck out to a highway with three city police cars in pursuit.
After his truck was disabled by a spike belt, police allege McMillan got out of the vehicle and fired warning shots. They say he ignored commands to drop his handgun and shot a police dog when it attacked him.
McMillan then pointed the gun at the officers and was shot and killed, said police.
They would not say which of the 11 RCMP and Saskatoon city police present fired or how many bullets were discharged.
"Eleven against one. They're more worried about that damned dog," Victoria McMillan said before breaking down crying.
She and other family members question the need for a police chase, when the main objective was to seize the guns in the house.
"They should have taken the guns (out of the house) and let him go and cool off," said McMillan's aunt, Beverly Gardipy.
"He's not the type to do this. He didn't snap. They pushed him to this."
Once the chase had ended and McMillan's truck was disabled in the middle of an open field, police should have been patient, the family maintains.
Saskatoon city police Chief Dave Scott and RCMP Sgt. Ron Toogood said there are no indications police acted improperly, but they'll wait until the investigation is complete to comment in detail.
City police Staff Sgt. Gary Lewis said the officer on the scene makes the decision whether to begin a chase.
Once the chase begins, the "pursuit policy" requires a call to a supervisor to get instructions.
Lewis said police departments all over Canada wrestle with the issue of police chases because of the potential risks to bystanders as well as officers.
"We are sworn to uphold the law. In order to do our jobs, sometimes chases take place," Lewis said. "Any time police are involved in high-risk situations, our No. 1 concern is to defuse it."
The McMillan family also believes the shooting was racially motivated. McMillan was a status Indian, since his mother's roots are in the Poundmaker First Nation.
They noted that McMillan was the second aboriginal man shot by police in a month outside Saskatoon.
Melvin Bigsky was shot in late April after he rammed a police car with his truck and physically assaulted the officer.
"He (McMillan) was born an Indian - he died like an Indian," said Victoria McMillan whose social work degree hung on a wall nearby, next to family photos.
However, Toogood, the RCMP sergeant, said first reports from the incident were that a Caucasian male was involved. "At the particular time, all of the information was that he was a white male.
"Whether (he was) a white male, native, Scotsman, East Indian, would have made no difference. The policy does not differentiate between race and nationality," Toogood said.
"It's based on the situation and the actions that person took."
Keldon McMillan was born and raised in Saskatoon, but worked for a few years laying linoleum for houses on the Poundmaker reserve near North Battleford, Sask.
He then started his own business, building homes, which included his own and several others in his crescent.
Friends say McMillan was depressed about his company going bankrupt earlier this year.
by Jason Warick
globaltv saskatoon
SASKATOON, Sask., 7:50 a.m. CST May 23, 2001 --The high-speed chase and armed standoff that ended in the police shooting of Keldon McMillan was not necessary, and officers should be reprimanded for such aggressive tactics, says McMillan's mother.
"I'm blaming this on (the police). They killed my son -- murderers. None of this should have happened. Something's got to be done,'' Victoria McMillan said in an emotional interview Tuesday afternoon in the living room of her Westmount-area home, where her only son grew up.
"He was a good son. We're so proud of him. Now he's gone.''
McMillan's body will be returned to the family this morning. Victoria McMillan said they have been discussing arrangements with the family of McMillan's wife, Kim, who could not be reached Tuesday.
Victoria McMillan said the families have a good relationship and ``are giving each other moral support.'
Police went to Keldon McMillan's Beerling Crescent home Sunday night to seize a suspected store of firearms, as well as serve him with an order barring him from contact with his wife.
When McMillan arrived home, he didn't get out of his vehicle. Instead, he drove through his yard and fled in his truck out to Highway 41 toward Wakaw with three city police cars in pursuit.
His truck was disabled by a police spike belt placed by RCMP and came to a stop roughly 10 kilometres west of Wakaw. According to police, McMillan got out of the truck and fired warning shots. He ignored commands to drop his handgun and then shot a police dog when it attacked him.
McMillan then pointed the gun toward the officers and was shot and killed, said police. They would not say which of the 11 RCMP and Saskatoon city police present fired or how many bullets were discharged.
"Eleven against one. I call them a killing squad. They're more worried about that damned dog,'' Victoria McMillan said before breaking down crying. She was comforted by her daughters, cousins and more than a dozen other relatives gathered at the family home.
She and other family members question the need for a police chase, when the main objective was to seize the guns in the house.
"They should have taken the guns (out of the house) and let him go and cool off,'' said McMillan's aunt, Beverly Gardipy.
"He's not the type to do this. He didn't snap. They pushed him to this.''
Once the chase had ended and McMillan's truck was disabled in the middle of an open field, police should have been patient and simply stayed back, the family maintains. Instead, they yelled orders at him to drop his weapon, attacked him with a police dog and then shot him when he pointed the gun toward police.
They also question why police had to station themselves close enough to McMillan to fear being shot with a handgun. Family members say he would have calmed down if police had kept their distance.
"They should have contacted me and his father. We could have talked to him, told him to give the police the gun,'' said Victoria McMillan.
Saskatoon city police Chief Dave Scott and RCMP Sgt. Ron Toogood said there are no indications police acted improperly, but they'll wait until the investigation is complete to comment in detail.
City police Staff Sgt. Gary Lewis said the officer on the scene makes the decision whether to begin a chase. Once the chase begins, the ``pursuit policy'' requires a call to a supervisor to get instructions.
He said there are so many scenarios that defining exactly when to chase would be impossible. ``But if somebody runs a stop sign, you're probably not going to end up in hot pursuit,'' Lewis said. ``It will escalate as the offence increases -- armed robbery or murder or something like that.''
Lewis said police departments all over Canada wrestle with the issue of police chases because of the potential risks to bystanders as well as officers.
Lewis said police try to limit the number of cars involved in a chase to minimize the risk to all involved. Speed, traffic conditions, and other factors are taken into account.
The McMillan family also believes the shooting was racially motivated. McMillan was a status Indian, as his mother's roots are in the Poundmaker First Nation. They noted that McMillan was the second aboriginal man shot by police in a month outside Saskatoon. Melvin Bigsky was shot in late April after he rammed a police car with his truck and physically assaulted the officer.
"He was born an Indian -- he died like an Indian,'' Victoria McMillan said.
"The police won't say it's racist, but deep down it is,'' said cousin Deanne Kasokeo.
However, Toogood said initial reports indicated McMillan was Caucasian. ``Whether a white male, Native, Scotsman, East Indian, would have made no difference. The policy does not differentiate between race and nationality. It's based on the situation and the actions that person took.''
McMillan was born and raised in Saskatoon, but worked for a few years laying linoleum for houses on the Poundmaker reserve near North Battleford. He then started his own business, building homes, which included his own and several others on Beerling Crescent.
Peter West, a friend and electrician who was contracted by McMillan's home-building business, said McMillan was ``obviously at the breaking point.''
McMillan Homes went bankrupt earlier this year. McMillan ``worked damn hard'' but tried to expand too fast, West said.
West said he "can't help but think (police) over-reacted, but who knows in the heat of the moment.''
By Jason Warick
of The StarPhoenix
A father from the Silverspring neighbourhood who was killed in a shootout with police Sunday night probably "just snapped" from the pressure of mounting debts, a failed business, and worries about his marriage, says one of his best friends.
"He's been under a lot of pressure. Everything was coming to a head, (but) I never thought it would get to this," friend Andrew Clewes said in an interview Monday evening.
Keldon McMillan, 33, was killed following a chase and standoff on Highway 41 near Wakaw. According to police, McMillan refused to drop his handgun, then shot a police dog. He had aimed his gun toward police when they opened fire. He died at the scene.
McMillan was depressed about losing his business, McMillan Homes, earlier in the year, but it wasn't until two weekends ago that Clewes discovered just how bad things were for his friend.
During a softball tournament in Pike Lake on May 12, McMillan broke down crying and confided to Clewes that he was involved in legal action with a bank, his partners, and various suppliers.
He believed he was on the verge of losing his upscale Beerling Crescent home. He also said he was worried about his marriage, even though he and his wife, a local nurse, had recently returned from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.
"They were going to lose everything. He thought he was going to lose his wife, too. It wasn't the Keldon I knew," said Clewes, who drives bus for people with special needs.
"I'm sure he just snapped. Everybody's stunned."
According to Clewes, McMillan "would give you the shirt off his back." McMillan gave Clewes an interest-free loan of several thousand dollars a few years ago. He was also active in the local sports scene, sponsoring a men's and a women's softball team with uniforms and cash until the business bankruptcy forced him to cancel the sponsorships this year.
He also sponsored a car at Bridge City Speedway.
McMillan had a three-year-old daughter with his wife, as well as a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship. He drove to a town near Regina every other weekend to pick up his son and take him ice fishing or hunting, Clewes said.
"I've known Keldon for years. He was a kind family man," Clewes said. Although McMillan had up to 10 different hunting rifles, Clewes wasn't aware he owned any handguns. Neither Clewes nor any of his other friends or neighbours interviewed could recall McMillan having any violent incidents or previous run-ins with police until this past weekend.
He played outfield on the softball team, the McMillan Builders and "could smack a ball," Clewes said. He also enjoyed hockey and various other outdoor sports.
Another ball teammate, Kory Szuba, called McMillan "just a fantastic guy. This is a total surprise, totally out of character for him. He was probably one of the most relaxed guys you'll ever meet."
This is the second time in a month that Saskatoon-area police have shot and killed a suspect, and both incidents took place on Highway 41. Melvin Bigsky was killed by a Saskatoon RCMP officer Apr. 27 after he rammed the police car and assaulted the officer.
According to a police press release, this weekend's chain of events began when McMillan's wife contacted Saskatoon police "with respect to personal concerns about her husband."
"As a result of that call, police investigators searched McMillan's residence and seized several weapons, although police were led to believe more weapons existed than were seized," the release continued.
Police went to McMillan's home around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night to arrest him on firearms charges. They were also going to serve him with an order not to contact his wife, after a domestic dispute earlier in the weekend.
According to a nearby neighbour who said he witnessed the entire incident, McMillan arrived home Sunday night but continued driving past his house. Possibly seeing the unmarked police car at the other end of his Beerling Crescent block, he reversed his truck and drove at high speed back down the crescent.
Another police car was waiting for him at the other end of the street, so McMillan drove his truck through his own front yard and out the back. He escaped to a grid road and drove east to Highway 41 with three police cars in pursuit.
"I watched the whole thing unfold. A cop ran right through our yard with a shotgun. It was actually quite shocking," said the neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saskatoon police enlisted the help of RCMP, who laid down a tire spike belt near Aberdeen. McMillan drove around it and continued until he drove over a second spike belt roughly 10 kilometres from Wakaw. His truck came to a stop on a dirt road just off the highway about two kilometres later.
With six RCMP and five city police officers at the scene, McMillan got out of his truck and fired several shots in the air, according to police. He was commanded to drop his handgun. When he didn't, a police dog was let loose to attack.
McMillan shot and killed the dog and then "raised his weapon towards officers," said Saskatoon police Chief Dave Scott.
Police opened fire and killed McMillan. Scott said police are investigating who shot him and how many shots were fired.
"All of it happened quickly," said Mary Osolinsky, who lives in the farmhouse about a hundred metres from where McMillan was shot. "We kind of got all shook up. We didn't have any idea what was going on out there,"
"The police were here all night. It's not a nice scene right now. It's sad regardless of the situation," she said in an interview Monday afternoon.
Police closed off a 15-kilometre section of Highway 41 between Saskatoon and Wakaw Sunday night and most of Monday to conduct their investigation. Clewes said McMillan - at 240 pounds, muscular, bald, and Metis - would have been an imposing figure to police.
He said he wants to find out more details about the incident, but admits police may have had no choice.
"I guess they've got to do what they have to do."
Some neighbours referred to McMillan as "a nice guy" or "pretty normal," while others called him arrogrant, unstable, and "a loose cannon."
No one from the McMillan family was available for comment Monday. "It's a very quiet neighbourhood (but) something like this could maybe happen anywhere," said a neighbour. "He built houses in the neighbourhood. It's shocking."
Police estimate the investigation will take a few weeks. It will determine if police acted properly as well as the circumstances surrounding the death. Scott said he has no reason to believe police acted improperly, but will wait until the investigation is complete to comment further. He said it's "absolutely tragic" any time anyone is killed.
Scott and RCMP Sgt. Ron Toogood said the deadly force was used only after all other options appear to have been tried.
As for the police dog, Cyr, Scott said he was good at his job and "will be dearly missed."
Police vehicles remained at the McMillan home late Monday.
From Canoe.ca
Monday, May 21, 2001
SASKATOON (CP) -- An armed man who led police on a high-speed highway chase and gunned down a police dog was shot and killed Sunday night -- the second fatal shooting by police in the Saskatoon area in a month.
City police said the trouble began when they were called to a Saskatoon home around 9:30 p.m. A suspect fled, leading officers on a high-speed chase on Highway 41 out of the city. The chase ended near Wakaw, Sask., when a spike belt, laid by the RCMP, flattened two tires on the suspect's vehicle.
Police said a 33-year-old man got out of the vehicle, brandishing a gun, and shot the Saskatoon city police dog. The man was then shot by police.
Just three weeks ago, another 33 year-old man was killed by police on a highway outside Saskatoon. Melvin Bigsky was shot after he was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations called for an inquiry into that shooting after a witness reported that Bigsky had been pepper-sprayed, clubbed and electrically shocked before the officer shot him.
And now for a little damage control. Aren't those coppers lucky to have their buddies in the media always available to clean up their image? This article is a fine example of psychological warfare!-ed
CP
Thursday 31 May 2001
A Saskatoon police officer whose canine partner was killed in a shoot-out a couple of weeks ago got a new dog Wednesday, thanks to the generosity of a five-year-old boy from Sherwood Park.
Const. Steve Kay's dog, Cyr, was fatally shot May 20 during an armed standoff with bankrupt businessman Keldon McMillan, 33, who was later shot and killed by officers.
Cyr was the grandfather of little Garrett Robinson's 18-month-old German shepherd Blue.
Garrett's father Paul Robinson told CFRN-TV the tyke was the one who decided to offer Blue to Kay.
"He had the final say -- if he didn't want to, we wouldn't have," said Paul, motioning to a sombre-looking Garrett sitting on his lap. "I think there's two heroes here. There's the dog that died and there's my son."
Before Kay came to collect the dog, Garrett spent a while laughing and playing one last game of fetch with Blue at a neighbourhood playground.
"Shake a paw," the rosy-cheeked lad instructed the immediately obedient pooch.
When Kay arrived, the officer kneeled to be at eye level with Garrett, stroking Blue's chest as he made a solemn promise to the boy.
"I will take really good care of your puppy," said the 15-year police veteran. "I hope he has what it takes to be a police dog."
The officer was visibly moved as he spoke of Garrett's selfless act.
"His gesture is enormous and I appreciate it more than I can explain to you," he told a reporter.
A handshake between the tall, sturdy officer and the tiny boy sealed the deal, and then it was time for Garrett to kiss Blue on the head and say goodbye.
Garrett's sadness at seeing the van carrying his old friend drive away faded hours later when Peg O'Neill of Heartridge Training Academy, the breeder of both Blue and Cyr, presented Garrett with a new puppy, Blue's half-sister.
A quick game of fetch confirmed the budding new friendship.
"He really should be recognized as being a remarkable young boy," said O'Neill, whose kennel has produced seven police dogs in service across Canada. "That's why I wanted to do something good for him."
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
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This page created July 15, 2001
