A tip that arrived shortly around midnight has now been credited with helping the RCMP locate suspect Justin Bourque after a manhunt that lasted for 36 hours.
“We did receive a call and that call was able to allow us to focus our people and energies in the right area,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown told CTV News.
At 12:10 a.m., the RCMP located and surrounded Bourque, at which point he was said to have put down his firearms and surrendered to the authorities.
The search perimeter had been quite large, according to Brown, and included residential areas as well as a wooded area. Because of this, the police depended largely on the information provided to them by the public, who were calling in on a regular basis.
“He retreated to a wooded area,” Brown said. “ We continuously reduced that again and again. Later last night, a citizen helped in refining the perimeter and allowed us to really close in.”
Brown was confident that the suspect would be caught, but that didn’t stop him from feeling anxious about what would happen when they eventually faced the alleged shooter.
“I was worried. When you see an individual who’s shot five and killed three, you know that person is in a state of mind that is uncontrollable,” he said. “However, I had absolute confidence in the membership.”
