Ottawa robbery detective, 35, dies by suicide in headquarters
Ottawa Canada Sept 30 2019 An Ottawa police officer shot and killed himself inside police headquarters on Elgin Street on Friday.
Police have identified the officer as Det. Thomas Roberts, 35. The robbery investigator was found dead inside the unit’s office.
Roberts was a former RCMP officer who joined OPS in 2016. His colleagues remember him as a dedicated and energetic police officer.
In 2018, Roberts was part of a group of officers who rushed into a burning building and saved a man inside.
Roberts is survived by his wife and a nine-month-old child said, interim Chief Steve Bell said in a statement.
His family has asked for privacy.
Flags were at half-mast at headquarters on Elgin Street Saturday.
The death occurred five years minus a day after another Ottawa officer, Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban, a 22-year veteran, also took his own life at police headquarters.
Bell said Ghadban’s suicide prompted the service to make sure supports were in place for their officers. The OPS will continue to evaluate what its doing in the wake of Roberts’s death.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit probed the death of the 43-year-old husband and father of three and concluded there were no reasonable grounds to charge any OPS officer with a criminal offence in connection with it.
Friday’s suicide at the Elgin Street police headquarters also came at the start of a weekend in which officers from across Canada will gather on Parliament Hill to honour their fallen comrades.
In 1998, the federal government proclaimed the last Sunday of September Police and Peace Officers’ National Memorial Day, and in 2003 it mandated that flags on federal buildings, including the Peace Tower, would be flown at half-mast on that day.
The names of almost 900 peace officers are engraved on the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial on Parliament Hill.
Toronto police are investigating the death of one of their officers, Const. Vadym Martsenyuk, in his home on Thursday.
Ontario’s chief coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer, announced earlier this year that he was launching a review of police suicides in the province after eight active officers and one recently retired officer died by suicide in 2019. Huyer noted that no more than five officers had taken their own lives in any one of the previous five years.
In a letter to fellow officers obtained by this newspaper, Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof expressed sympathy to the family of the officer who died Friday.
“When we experience difficult moments, a personal loss or tragic event, we are often left with an indelible memory of time and location. I remember exactly where I was, five years ago, almost to the day, when I learned of the loss of one of our members,” Skof wrote.
“Tonight, we face the same challenge, we ask the same questions and struggle with the same confusion over the tragic loss of another member. We search our minds for signs that we often could not see; for words that we could not hear, we question whether there was something we could have done.
“Too often we are reminded of life’s fragility; how critical it is that we resolve to be united, holding together in our grief, and in finding comfort in our support for one another.
“Our deepest sympathies and most sincere condolences are with the family of our lost brother. To all of you who are impacted by this tragedy, we pledge our continued support.”
