Star of Courage

• Awarded on: November 5, 1979
• Invested on: June 13, 1980

Deborah Jean MacLean, S.C.
Deborah Ann McInnis, S.C.
Star of Courage

Acting independently of one another, Deborah McInnis and Deborah MacLean disarmed a man who was holding several hostages at gunpoint at Summerside on 25 January 1978. The man had killed a shopkeeper and then fled into a clothing store where he forced four women employees into an elevator. One of the women darted out, and when the man was about to shoot her Miss McInnis - another of the hostages - struck his weapon and pointed it down. After two shots had gone into the floor she managed to disarm him, and he escaped into another store. There he stole another gun and took several other women captive. After an interval during which the women's lives were threatened the police rushed him. When he aimed in their direction, Miss MacLean seized the gun and held fast until he was arrested.