Gunman Who Shot Canadian Officers Under Investigation for Hate Crimes
Additional details are emerging about an unemployed man who was under investigation for hate crimes and refused to leave his foreclosed home when he fatally shot an Edmonton police officer Monday in that Canadian city.
While authorities stopped short of describing Norman Walter Raddatz as a sovereign citizen, he is being characterized by neighbors and friends as a loner, facing foreclosure and eviction from his home, after experiencing a divorce and financial collapse.
Raddatz had refused to move from his residence, despite a court-sanctioned foreclosure and eviction process, and he ignored police knocks at his door Monday evening. When they began a court-authorized forcible entry to arrest him, Raddatz began firing multiple rounds from a large caliber rifle, authorities said.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said the two officers who were shot and backup officers who arrived didn't return fire, while Raddatz fired more than 50 rounds from a large-bore rifle, the Edmonton Journal reported.
Neighbors told various media outlets that Raddatz refused to abide by local laws and bylaws, piling dog feces on a property line fence at one point. One neighbor described the shooter as a “deadbeat” and another called him a “terrible neighbor.”
Raddatz, a 42-year-old unemployed refrigeration mechanic, “had an extensive hate crimes file related to online bullying of a family” in Edmonton, the CBC reported.
Constable Daniel Woodall, 35, of the Edmonton Police Services’ hate crimes unit, died from multiple gunshots wounds as he attempted to enter the suspect’s residence, authorities said. A second officer, Sgt. Jason Harley, 38, was wounded, but is expected to recover. Both officers were wearing vests.
Many of the rounds were fired through doors and walls. A body, believed to be that of Raddatz, was found in the charred basement of the house which he apparently set on fire after shooting at the police officers.
Raddatz was known to police but didn’t have an extensive criminal record, the police chief told reporters.
The online hatred and bullying by Raddatz of the publicly unidentified Edmonton family “had become extreme and the family members were increasingly worried about their personal safety,” the police chief told the Edmonton newspaper.
