deadmonton 2010 - garth radons

In December 1994, Global interviewed Burns after he had a number of firearms and ammunition stolen from his home.

"They came in armed with a screwdriver and left armed with fire power," he said.

Stolen were two shotguns, a semi-automatic rifle, a goose gun, two semi-automatic handguns and 1,300 rounds of ammunition.

Ironically, Burns was concerned that whoever stole his collection might injure themselves.

"I can just picture somebody trying to hammer off a trigger lock and having the thing go off in their face, I don't know," he said.

"It's dangerous ... not to mention the fact if they do get the trigger lock off, what are they going to do with it?

"Shoot somebody?"

Burns added that it was unlikely he would replace the guns.

"It's a hobby ... recreation. I enjoy doing it but I can live without it if it's going to be this much hassle," he said.

The Global video can be seen here on the Edmonton Journal website.

Interviewed at the scene moments later, Sheri Wotowylo described the call.

"It was pretty shocking when he phoned but he's okay ... a little shook up," she said.

"He heard a shot and then ... he saw the guy reload his shotgun and then he ..."

Burns placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger a final time.

Another witness, who wished not to be named, similarly described the scene.

Burns had stormed into the dealership's service area without saying a word, his face not betraying any emotion.

Hidden inside a box, Burns carried with him a sawed-off shotgun wrapped inside a towel.

"Dave walked in there, didn't say a fucking word. He came here with a vengeance and a rage. He came there to kill."

Burns' target was, the witness figured, a South Asian co-worker who was not at work that day.

A popping sound echoed throughout the shop's service bays.

"I didn't think too much of it at first," the witness said. "It sounded like a cable snapping."

The gunman had strode into Garth Radons' office and shot him. He then levelled his gun at another man, Mike, and shot him in the stomach.

Silently gazing into the eyes of a half-dozen onlookers, Burns reloaded and turned the gun on himself.

"The two guys he shot, he didn't get along with," the witness said. "I firmly believe that I'm alive right now because I got along with Dave.

"He wasn't interested in taking hostages. He never said a word. It wasn't a cry for help. This was about anger and vengeance, plain and simple."

A dealership worker with military experience in Afghanistan then ran to Mike to administer first aid.

return to narrative

55-year-old Great Western Chrysler Jeep shop supervisor Dave Burns had come back to work on March 12th after serving a 14-day suspension.

A human rights complaints landed the twenty-two year employee in hot water after he made racial slurs against at least one co-worker.

He also had posted a sexually explicit picture of two South Asian men on a staff bulletin board and on the internet.

A non-white employee was outraged, according to a staff member who did not want to be identified, and complained to senior management.

"Two people are dead and another's in hospital," the staffer said, "all because someone put a joke photo on the wall.

"There've been lots of things like that," he said. "They've been directed at all of us."

A man who knew Burns said he wore his emotions on his sleeve. And under that sleeve was a tattoo of a swastika.

"He was a very passionate person," Corey Kruchkowski said.

"He felt very strongly about what he believed and if you didn't follow what he felt – he'd let you know.

"He had a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality, from my perspective," Kruchkowski said. "He was capable of doing nice things for people.

"But he's just a strong-minded person. If you didn't see things his way, he could be pretty aggressive. Everyone who knew him would have butted heads with him at least a few times."

Shane McGee said Burns "was a very strong-willed person. It was, 'This is what I think and if you don't agree with it, too bad.' "

Kruchkowski admitted he was aware that Burns had spent time in jail.

"He had that biker kind of persona."

The car dealership staffer said Burns frequently clashed with the two people he shot.

"This was planned, it was organised," he said. "He had a list and he came to kill."

He noted that the South Asian employee was not at work that day.

"I'm sure Dave was looking for him, too."

As the service department's tower operator (assigning mechanics their duties and handling the shop's paperwork), Burns was under constant pressure and he often clashed with co-workers.

"It happens in every shop," the staffer said. "It's a tough position."

Burns was known around the shop as "the Nazi," but it wasn't known how he earned the moniker.

"I never saw him do anything overtly racist," the worker said.

In addition to the swastika, Burns had a tattoo of a winged skull, not unlike the Hells Angels emblem, on his left earlobe.

The staff member had seen the Global TV/Edmonton Journal video and was shocked by what he saw.

"He seemed like a different guy back then," he said. "I can't put my finger on exactly what it was, but he was very different.

"I never would have expected anything like this from him."

Others said Burns was a heavy drinker who would aggressively quarrel with anyone over almost anything. Some went as far as to describe him as a white supremacist.

Burns was married in 1979 to a woman named Judy, according to court documents. They had a son, Chevy, and divorced in 2000.

His ex-wife lives in the same west-end bungalow that the couple lived in when they were married. Neighbours said they hadn't seen Burns near the home in a long time.

According to a friend, after marrying his new wife, MJ, about five years ago Burns seemed to have calmed down.

Manslaughter conviction

On February 9th, 1974, at age 19, Dave Burns attended a social at a River Avenue club in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Garvin Dale Inglis, 18 (above), also showed up, apparently looking for a fight. He spilled a drink on Burns and the two exchanged blows.

Later that night, Burns caught up to Inglis and told him he owed him $2 for tearing his shirt. They stepped outside to resume the fight and Burns pulled out a knife, intending to frighten Inglis.

The show of force didn't work and Inglis ended up suffering a single knife wound that penetrated four inches (10 cm) into the centre of his heart.

Burns was charged with murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The Crown accepted the plea as they felt it could not be conclusively proved that Burns had meant to kill Inglis.

Burns was sentenced to four years in prison on October 4th, 1974. He was said to have served just less than two years before being released.

When news of the March 12th shooting at Great West Chrysler Jeep reached around the world, a former classmate now living in the United States who was at the Winnipeg party finally had a burning question answered – read more »

The manslaughter conviction also came as a shock to Great West Chrysler owner Bart Yachimec.

"Wow. I was not aware of that," he said.

Yachimec said his dealerships perform criminal background checks on new hires, but whether that policy was in effect when Burns first started working for him in 1988 he didn't know.

The question of whether Burns could have been handed a weapons ban in connection with his manslaughter conviction was raised with MacEwan University criminologist Bill Pitt.

Pitt noted that weapons bans usually cover a limited time period, such as five or 10 years. The criminologist said he would be surprised if a ban had been imposed.

"Back then in the 1970s, he was just past the age of majority, I would think that the courts would have taken a liberal view and it would have flown under the radar," Pitt said.

A retired criminologist figured a weapons ban would have not likely been part of Burns' sentence and less likely to have been a deterrent.

"There's no way that a prohibition or a registration program is going to prevent someone from accessing and using a gun when the offence is irrational," Keith Spencer said.