Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 2002-06-20
Invested on: 2003-06-13
On April 28, 1999, Dennis Reimer, the School Police Resource Officer, risked his life to apprehend a young offender who was on a shooting spree at a high school in Taber, Alberta. Armed with a sawed-off rifle, the former student walked down a hallway and opened fire on three teenaged boys, gravely wounding two of them. The third managed to run for help. Alerted by the gunfire noise, then Cst. Reimer rushed to find one of the victims staggering out of the hallway, then collapsing at his feet, bleeding heavily. Seeing the other teenager crawling on the hallway floor, Cst. Reimer reached out to him and pulled him out of harm's way. Wanting to avert further tragedy, Cst. Reimer, hidden from the disturbed teenager's view, observed him swivelling his weapon around some ten metres away, and seized the opportunity of a momentary distraction to tackle him. Sadly, one of the victims did not recover from his injuries.