1935 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Killings
| 1935 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Killings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Near Pelly, Saskatchewan, and Banff, Alberta, Canada |
| Date | 5–8 October 1935 |
Attack type | Spree shooting, shootout, robbery |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 7 (four constables and three perpetrators) |
| Perpetrators | John Kalmakoff, Joseph Posnikoff, and Peter Woiken |
| Motive | Unknown |
The 1935 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Killings were a series of murders of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police and one local constable from 5–8 October 1935. They began with the murders of Benito Constable William Wainwright and RCMP Constable John Shaw near Pelly, Saskatchewan, by three Doukhobor men who had been in the custody of the officers. This led to a shootout which killed two additional RCMP officers in Banff, Alberta, and the death of perpetrator Joseph Posnikoff. The remaining two perpetrators were shot by Banff Park Game Warden William Neish, as they were pursued by a combined posse of RCMP officers and armed civilian volunteers.
The ordeals involved RCMP detachments from three provinces in western Canada and remained one of the deadliest incidents in RCMP history until the Mayerthorpe tragedy in 2005. With the death of all perpetrators, the motivations of the perpetrators remain unknown.