Brandon Harder
Regina Leader-Post
The Regina Police Service (RPS) says it has learned an officer did in fact stop by Saskatchewan Party candidate Rahul Singh’s damaged campaign office Monday night. The force previously stated there was no indication an officer attended Monday.
The update came from RPS Deputy Chief Lorilee Davies at a news conference Thursday.
“We unfortunately had no record of that interaction or attendance there,” Davies said of the officer’s presence Monday at the campaign office.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The update aligns with part of an earlier statement that the Sask. Party made to the Leader-Post, specifically regarding an officer’s presence at Singh’s office following the discovery of two holes in the windows.
The party stated that “initial indication from the patrolling officer was that it appeared to be firearms related,” and this is what led to its Tuesday morning news release describing the damage done to the campaign office as being the result of “gun shots.”
Later Tuesday, the RPS concluded that the damage was not firearms-related. Davies maintained that position Thursday.
However, the force admitted it was previously mistaken in its belief that no officer attended prior to Tuesday, when the investigator’s conclusion that the damage was not caused by gunshots was reached.
“There’s been a misunderstanding. We take full ownership of that. We should know when our officers are out dealing with an incident,” Davies said.
She told reporters the force currently has no knowledge of what the officer who attended Monday may have said to those who he spoke with at the office, or even what drew him there.
The officer who attended the office Monday has been on “days off” and the force has not yet been able to speak to him, she told reporters.
She was asked hypothetically about protocol in a situation where an officer attended and decided the campaign office may have been shot at.
“It would be 100 per cent my expectation as the deputy chief that if that was the information that the officer gathered at the time, that they would’ve conducted an immediate investigation,” she said.
A call went in to the RPS Monday evening to report the incident, which “was deemed a non-emergent call,” according to a police spokesperson.
In his account Tuesday, Singh said volunteers were coming back to the office Monday evening “when they noticed that there was a couple of holes in the windows.”
They called the police right away and “requested an officer to come by and check in,” said Singh.
According to police, the investigating officer arrived around mid-day Tuesday and made his conclusion that the damage was not the result of gunshots “immediately.”
Speaking in Moose Jaw on Thursday, Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe said he has faith that the RPS will investigate the incident thoroughly.
“Regardless of whether it is a drive-by or a targeted act, it is an act with a projectile that was directed — two of them — at a campaign office,” he said, noting that volunteers in any campaign office deserve to feel safe.
Police have not offered a conclusion about how the damage was caused.
As for why his party announced the damage was a result of gunshots before an investigation had concluded, Moe said they were being “transparent” with the information they were provided with by an officer Monday.
— with files from Alec Salloum
bharder@postmedia.com
