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ap----- re NIT i Tp iE Nga 4 - THE PORT PERRY STAR, Tuesday, October 23, 2001 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" "Shots fired" The 1994 robbery of a Port Perry bank remains fresh in most local residents' minds even now, seven years after the fact. Police offi- cers were injured, two civilians were shot, the town of Port Perry was thrusted into the media spotlight and a career criminal was arrested, charged, found guilty and finally sentenced. He now sits behind bars, contem- plating his upcoming appeal. Here, The Star's own Rik Davie recounts that memorable evening. Because certain matters pertain- ing to the events are still before the courts, only information already in the public domain is used in this story. F 3 By Rik Davie Port Perry Star On the evening of October 20, 1994, a chain of events in Port Perry forever changed the lives of seven people. Seven years ago, two masked men stormed the Bank of Montreal branch in the Port Perry Plaza on Hwy. 7A during the early evening hours and when they took their leave of the quiet little town the bank manager, three police officers and a realtor work- ing in an office across the street were all wounded by gunfire. The pair of gunmen also took a couple hostage and ordered the husband to drive them to their getaway car, located behind the Port Perry Community Hospital. The story of Durham Regional Police Constable Warren Ellis and his partner, Constable Mark McConkey -- both shot as they tried to exit their cruiser to return fire -- and Detective Paul Mooy, who had a high-powered slug tear up his arm as he crouched behind a brick pillar preparing to return fire have been recounted countless times. So too have the tales of Alan Knight, the bank manager whose reluctance to relinquish his duty resulted in a pistol shot to the leg, and the realtor, Debra Taylor, whose first knowledge of the fire fight taking place across the street was the searing pain of a rifle shot hitting her in the back. For years they have relived the night their lives almost ended for investigators, reporters and a thousand curious and perhaps well-meaning friends and strangers. They still reiive it. That is not the story we will tell here. LEER ER EEE A EE EE RE RE RE ER RE EE As ambulances arrived at the Port Perry Plaza and attendants worked feverishly over Const. Ellis, crumpled behind the wheel of his cruiser, and Const. McConkey, who was raced to the very hospital where his assailants were leaving in their Camaro get- away car, a huge beast was lurch- ing to its feet and beginning to reach out for the men who had shot its children. While Alan Knight still lay on the floor of the bank attended by his staff, and while Debra Taylor lay wounded and puzzled over what had become of a late night at the office, word went out over a thousand police radios and emergency service channels and the largest investigation in Durham Regional Police history began as every officer in Durham, and many beyond the region's boundaries, raced for a town that would never be the same again. Even as Detective Paul Mooy pounded his leg in frustration at his inability to chase his assailants, the first steps in the criminal investigation were beginning to play out. One officer who raced towards Port Perry was Detective (now Inspector) Dave Kimerly, a veter- an cop who would spot the key to unraveling the horrific events of Oct. 20, 1994 before he even arrived at the scene of the crime. Det. Kimerly was headed towards the scene when he spot- ted a red Camaro IROC-Z pulling a U-turn in an apparent attempt to avoid a police roadblock being set up. It struck him as odd and he noted the plate number as the car raced by him. It would be the key leading officers to one of the most infamous holdup men in North America. As the roadblocks were being set up investigators began to piece together the story. From eyewitness statements and offi- cers' observations, the evening's events began to unfold, and become much clearer. Criminal Investigation Branch members started the early stages of the investigation, headed by Detective-Sergeant (now Staff- Sgt.) Ron Rollauer, and checked the early information on Det. Kimerly"s sighting of the red car that pulled the U-turn and came up with a Kingston address, which ultimately resulted in the all-night manhunt that would lead to the door of career crimi- nal and author, Mikey McArthur. For many of the officers who arrived at the Port Perry Plaza, that night would be the start of a lengthy shift that would last for months and an investigation that would consume their careers, their private lives and their dreams for several years. For a few, it would be the case upon which careers are made and for others it would be the finale to police careers that began before bad guys carried assault rifles and ended in frus- tration at the Canadian legal sys- tem that will last through their retirements. And finally, for one young offi- cer, a baptism-by-fire. In the famous shot of an ambulance attendant tending to the wounds of Warren Ellis, taken by J. Peter Hvidsten, publisher of. The Port Perry Star at the time, a young officer is seen to the left of the cruiser watching in fascinated horror as the man who had just sent him for Chinese food sits wounded in the face. Constable Rob Redford was a newly-minted Durham Regional Police officer at the time, and the look on his face shows the com- bined disbelief and realization of what his chosen profession can cost. As Const. Redford stood by his fellow officer in the dark park- ing lot littered with shell casings and the wreckage of a small town's innocence, the men in suits -- the investigators -- moved in to give faces and names to the perpetrators and to bring them to justice. Only the justice the officers sought was not to be the justice delivered. Next Week: the investigators story. photos by J. Peter Hvidsten Clockwise from left: Constable Warren Ellis is tended in his cruiser moments after the shooting. Middle; ambulance atten- dants rush Ellis to hospital after being hit in the face by gun- fire. Above; suspects avoided heavily armed roadblocks like this one.