“Accused Gun Seller Denied Bail in Case of Edmonton Police Officer Killings”

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Published Dec 21, 2023 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 3 minute read

A courtroom sketch of Dennis Okeymow, 19, who was denied bail on Dec. 21, 2023, for his alleged role in the killing of two Edmonton police officers earlier this year. Okeymow is accused of selling a rifle to 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk, who fatally shot constables Travis Jordan and Brett Ryan before turning the gun on himself. Photo by Amanda McRoberts /supplied

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The man accused of selling the gun used to kill two Edmonton police officers and wound two others will await his trial in remand after an unsuccessful bid for release.

Justice Carole Godfrey of the Alberta court of justice on Thursday denied bail to Dennis Okeymow, charged with manslaughter for the March 16 shooting deaths of constables Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan.

Okeymow, 19, is accused of selling the rifle 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk used to gun down the officers, as well as his mother and a Pizza Hut clerk shot four days prior to the bloodshed. He is charged with 21 offences, including three counts of manslaughter — including for Shewchuk’s death — as well as two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and a raft of gun and drug offences.

Godfrey denied Okeymow bail Thursday after a multi-day hearing. She imposed a publication ban on evidence and arguments heard during the proceedings — standard in such cases to protect the fair trial rights of the accused. Her reasons for denying bail are also covered by the ban.

Police arrested Okeymow after raiding his home in west Edmonton on Nov. 23. A neighbour told Postmedia officers used a battering ram affixed to an armoured vehicle to break down the door of the Glenwood-area townhome Okeymow rented. Evidence of the raid was still visible when Postmedia visited the home earlier this month, including vehicle tracks on the snow-dusted lawn and broken glass on the front porch. The window of the visibly cracked front door had been boarded up, while mail overflowed from the adjacent mailbox. A faded pinwheel protruded crookedly from the front flower bed.

Police say they found a variety of items inside the home “indicative of drug trafficking,” including a loaded handgun, ammunition and $10,000 in cash. They also seized quantities of cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA and LSD, according to court records.

Ryan and Jordan were responding to a family dispute at the Baywood Park apartment complex March 16 when Shewchuk ambushed them. The teen gunned down both officers and shot his mother, Kateryna Zoltanivna Shewchuk, before turning the gun on himself.

Shewchuk is also accused of shooting Richard Albert, a clerk at a nearby Pizza Hut, four days prior. Both Albert and Shewchuk’s mother survived with what police described as life-altering injuries.

Neither police nor court documents give the model of gun used, beyond identifying it as a rifle. During a news conference, Staff Sgt. Eric Stewart of the EPS guns and gangs unit called the investigation “the most complex and tragic” of his 20-year career.

In the wake of Okeymow’s charges, legal observers noted the similarities to the legal case that followed the killing of four Mounties in Mayerthorpe in 2005.

Shawn Hennessey and his brother-in-law, Dennis Cheeseman, admitted to giving the shooter, James Roszko, a gun and a ride to his property where the RCMP had been guarding a Quonset hut.

Roszko ambushed and killed the officers before killing himself. Both Hennessey and Cheeseman pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Hennessey was sentenced to 10 years and four months, while Cheeseman was given just over seven years in prison.

Legal experts interviewed by The Canadian Press said such cases are unusual and argued the Crown would have to clear a high hurdle in proving its case.

Okeymow is represented by defence lawyer David Ibrahim. Adam Garrett is the Crown prosecutor. Both declined to comment.

Bail decisions in the court of justice, Alberta’s lower court, can be appealed to the Court of King’s Bench..