Tiny community of St-Georges in shock as Sagkeeng school principal charged in double homicide
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/12/2018 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A shocking double-homicide on the shores of the Winnipeg River has taken another twist with the arrest of a high school principal regarded as a pillar of the area’s communities.
Claude Francis Guimond, 54, is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of Jody Brown, 43, and Steven Chevrefils, 35, in February 2017 in the tiny town of St-Georges, a town of 110 about seven kilometres southeast of Pine Falls.
Mounties announced Guimond’s arrest in a news release late Wednesday night. The arrest has sent shock waves throughout the community.
Guimond has been the principal of Sagkeeng Anicinabe High School in Sagkeeng First Nation. He is still listed as the principal on the school’s website but he has been on leave while his wife battled cancer. She died of the disease recently.
He is a respected member of the community beyond the First Nation’s borders. He recently helped coach a lacrosse team in nearby Powerview-Pine Falls. He’s coached hockey, has been a referee and “is a church-going Catholic,” as one community member said.
“He’s a major player in the community,” said the individual, who did not wish to be named.
People who talked with the Free Press have trouble believing Guimond was involved in drugs and were surprised at his arrest. It was known within the community that Guimond’s daughter has brought great pain to herself and her family with an addiction to illicit drugs, including having to spend time in jail.
At the time, people in the community speculated that given the area’s growing problem with drugs the slaying may have been an act of vigilantism.
Guimond is originally from Sagkeeng and was a teacher in Sagkeeng before being promoted to principal.
“You never saw him in trouble,” one acquaintance said. “He’s one of the guys you thought was a good guy, didn’t do drugs, played ball, was a hockey coach. He’s got kids. It’s shocking.”
Guimond is also a veteran of the Canadian Forces having served overseas in Cyprus. Locals say his tour in Cyprus involved shooting and many horrific events. One man said Guimond told him on several occasions that he has never gotten over his experience in Cyprus.
“Maybe it’s post traumatic stress disorder,” one source said.
“Everybody’s surprised,” said Jamie McMullen, who lives near the home where the shooting took place and was first person on the scene.
A woman from inside the house where the slaying took place ran to McMullen’s home to call the police that fateful night. McMullen arrived at the home before police and found one victim, Chevrefils, lying dead by the front door, and the other victim, Jody Brown, wounded in the basement.
“I tried to perform CPR on Jody,” McMullen said Thursday. He said he could hear his breath escaping from a puncture wound in one of the victim’s lungs.
McMullen believes both men were shot in the back.
McMullen said the news of the arrest is shocking but it may also start to bring some closure to the violent incident that rocked the community.
However, it’s also believed from witnesses in the community there may have been multiple people involved.
The victims were described as good friends who lived together in the house. Chevrefils was a father of two, and Brown also had children. Chevrefils was self-employed as a roofer and it’s believed Brown was unemployed.
Last year, a woman who was in the house when the homicides happened said a man “painted in black” entered. The man whose face was blackened was known to one of the victims, Chevrefils, and they went downstairs together to discuss something.
The woman didn’t see the altercation but said she was hit by a bullet that came up through the basement ceiling.
“I grabbed the back of my head and my hand was covered in blood,” she said. She ran to the second floor to hide with her 24-year-old daughter, Chevrefils’ girlfriend.
They went downstairs when it seemed the melee was over and found Chevrefils’ body by the front door.
“I told my daughter to run to get help. When a neighbour came, Jody was still breathing and the neighbour was doing CPR.”
The woman confirmed that Andrew Bruyere, 26 at the time, was also at the house. RCMP initially charged Bruyere with second-degree murder but the charges were stayed and he was released a short time later.
People in the community say Bruyere fled the house on foot.
Jack Brisco, reeve for the RM of Alexander that encompasses St-Georges, said he was “ecstatic” at the news that an arrest had been made. He was notified by RCMP Wednesday night.
“I’m glad the police are doing their job,” he said.
Brisco was taken aback by the suspect’s identity. “It’s upsetting that it’s a person trusted in the community. When it’s someone in charge of a school, it’s kind of a letdown.”
Brisco said he hopes the families of the victims “are feeling some relief that the justice system is doing its job.”
Derrick Henderson, the chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, did not wish to comment.
History
Updated on Thursday, December 13, 2018 7:49 AM CST: Updates with writethrough
Updated on Thursday, December 13, 2018 6:48 PM CST: Adds reporter's byline
Updated on Thursday, December 13, 2018 7:59 PM CST: Updates headline