Posted on 12/15/2005 2:54:25 PM PST by proud_yank
A 40-year-old man with a history of disputes with police has been arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Const. Valérie Gignac in Laval, north of Montreal.
François Pepin had been charged repeatedly with issuing death threats and harassing police officers and court workers. He was under a ten-year court order barring him from possessing firearms, the CBC's Amanda Pfeffer reports from Laval.
François Pepin
Despite the ban, which dated from 1999, he had asked for, and was granted, permission to use a gun for hunting during the fall season.
He had been charged in recent weeks with stalking another woman officer on the Laval force, and had been arrested in connection with that charge by Const. Gignac and her partner, the city's police chief said.
Along with the murder charge, Pepin was arraigned Thursday on charges relating to the firearms ban and possession of a high-powered rifle.
He didn't enter a plea and his lawyer didn't seek bail. He is being held in jail and will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 15.
Shot through an apartment door
Local police union officials told reporters it was "highly disturbing" that a man forbidden to possess firearms would be permitted to have one under any circumstances.
Const. Gignac, 25, was shot through an apartment door shortly after she and her partner reached the scene of a noisy quarrel in the northern district of Laval des Rapides on Wednesday morning.
"The type of gun you would use to shoot elephants" She wore a flak vest but the bullets apparently passed through or below it. Such vests may stop a pistol bullet but offer limited protection against more powerful rifle rounds.
Laval police chief Jean-Pierre Gariepy said the two officers knew Pepin was dangerous because they had arrested him about a week earlier in connection with the stalking charge.
No chance against a .338 rifle bullet
He said two shots were fired as they flanked the door and one struck Const. Gignac.
She had no chance, he said, against a .338-calibre bullet from a rifle he described as "the type of gun you would use to shoot elephants."
Const. Valérie Gignac
He said she was facing away from the door when the bullet hit her in the lower back and passed through her stomach.
She was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died. She had been on the force for four years.
Pepin surrendered after a seven-hour standoff with heavily armed police backed by an armoured personnel carrier.
Montreal's La Presse reported Thursday that Pepin had been convicted this month of harassing a woman police officer and fined $500.
"He was kind of in love with her, you know," the police chief told a news conference. "He was always trying to get in touch with her in many ways."
He would often drop by the station near his home and had a known penchant for female officers, the Globe and Mail reported.
"I'm told he had fantasies about women police officers, " Const. Guy Lajeunesse told the Globe. "He'd go by the police station and say, `I love women police officers. I find them beautiful.'"
Some more details on the montreal shooting.
Don't worry, they're working on it as we speak I'm sure.
Hold on here... the state is known to harass people with cops and use these tifs to justify disarming them right at the time when staying armed for self defense against state lead harassment becomes most important.
This is typical gun control circular argument: we can't have guns coz when harassed we may shoot back.
Uh? This is what the 2nd amendment was for. Many corrupt cops and nowives out there using their color of uniform to carry out murder, get reaction and demand condemnations or "psych profile" evaluation for cleansing society of those not fitting the liberal world's fantasy society charicature.
It's a form of displaced racism and hate. The people who called blacks in America as nipples out of a bull are the same liberals of today who make gun owners or whoever is in their way according to such terms of "unfit in society", "paranoiac" etc.
settle down this clown shot this girl with a dam grizzly gun - we should at least feel bad about it, and then lone them an electric chair for the job at hand.
Gun laws only put guns in the hands of criminals - but this guy had to be f'n nutts as well - I feel bad for her family.
If you know what you're doing, a .303 is an elephant gun.
Last time I looked, the MINIMUM caliber you could use on dangerous game in Africa was a .375. And for elephants, they prefer 458 Lott and up. So the writer knows as much about weapons, as about ...
And a .338 Lapua is nothing to sneeze at, either.
Geez. IIRC, she'd have to be wearing Level IV to stop a .338 Lapua.
http://www.snipercentral.com/338.htm
More about the .338 Lapua.
I still wouldn't label that as an 'elephant gun'. Big game yes, and that is still plenty intimidating for the media spinsters.
One possible weapon the perp may have used.
BARRETT'S NEW SNIPER RIFLE IN .338 LAPUA MAGNUM
- Caliber: .338 Lapua Magnum
- Operation: gas operated, semi-automatic
- Overall Length: 1,175 mm
- Length of Barrel: 610 mm
- Feed Device: 10-rd Box Magazine
- Weight: 7.0 kg
- Match Grade Barrel
- Bipod
- Scope Optional
- High Efficiency Muzzle Brake
Manufacturer: Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.
It's done all the time. That he is a criminal is besides the point here. The problem is cops harassing people to make them look more criminal than they are, whether or not they are criminals.
This is how they do their psychological profiling and are taught by lawyers who to go after, signs to look at etc...
People need to get a clue. A PC pogrom against gun owners is underway.
I have read that in AK, Fish and Wildlife carry a .375 H&H Mag. Besides what I have seen at Cabelas, I'm clueless as to what one would carry in Africa! I do remember a nice double barrel .465 nitro (rem?) mag in their 'fine gun room'. Someday, when/if I ever have $$ to burn! Can't even imagine the recoil on a rifle like that.
.375 HH mag for bear protection.
"A .338 is an elephant gun now? Better outlaw those."
it has worked so far too, you don't see any elephants in the wilds of canada now
Funny that you mention the .303 as an "elephant gun." I remember reading many years ago that the .303 was a favorite of some of the professions who were hired to thin out the herds.
I recall an Asian Indian using a muzzleloader for elephants. He's shoot it, wait weeks for the infection to kill the elephant, then cut the tusks.
IIRC the 375 H&H Magnum was considered a "minimum" caliber for African game.
Not quite enough for an elephant though
I can tell you I've never been taught by anyone, let alone a shyster lawyer, on how to harass people until I can get their guns from them.
I would like to get guns away from nutjobs who are felons and gang bangers (never met a gang banger yet who wasn't already a felon). They don't mind shooting at the police or spraying the neighborhood for that matter.
You give the movement a bad name.
The first thing you need to do when trying to get people to see you point or when trying to win people over to your side is to sound rational enough that they will pay attention to ou.
You are failing that test.
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