A man appeared in court this week on charges relating to attempting to kill six Morinville RCMP members.
On Monday morning, 30-year-old Destry Sayine appeared briefly before the court on charges he is facing from an incident that took place in 2018.
According to the RCMP, who released information this week, officers received a 911 call just after 5 a.m. on March 18, 2018, responding to a man experiencing a mental health crisis and locked in a garage.
The RCMP say the initial call came from a person who said they had been assaulted by the man in the garage, but who managed to escape and call the police.
The RCMP made several failed attempts to negotiate with the man before entering the garage.
Cpl. Laurel Scott, spokesperson for K Division, said once officers entered the garage, they continued their attempts to negotiate.
“After coming into sight and contact with this male, negotiations continued for him to surrender. However, the male produced a firearm and several shots were fired towards the doorway where officers were positioned,” Scott said in an email.
The police retreated from the situation and negotiations continued for several hours until the man peacefully surrendered. The next day, search warrants were executed and a .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle was seized.
Sayine is facing 22 charges from the incident, with six counts of attempted murder with a firearm, assault, six counts of discharging a firearm with intent, pointing a firearm, possessing a prohibited weapon, discharging a restricted firearm and several breaches of court orders.
Sayine originally had a trial slated for the matter for March 1 to 4, 2021, but that has now been cancelled.
Sayine was slated to enter pleas on Monday but that was delayed because his lawyer said he had trouble contacting Sayine in advance, who is currently staying in the Edmonton Remand Centre, due to the Remand's COVID-19 restrictions.
Sayine will appear Friday with his lawyer to schedule his next court appearance.
