Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: June 20, 2013
• Invested on: December 05, 2013

Warnakulasuriya (Warni) Raja Fernando, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On May 12, 2011, security guard Warni Fernando rescued a police officer from an attack outside a casino, in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The officer was responding to a call about a robbery that would later prove to be false. She was sitting in her cruiser, taking a statement from an alleged witness who was in the back seat. Suddenly, the man lunged over the barrier between the seats and started hitting the officer as they fell out of the vehicle through the open door. Mr. Fernando saw the struggle, radioed his supervisor and rushed to help the woman, who was trying to keep the aggressor from taking her gun from its holster. Mr. Fernando grabbed the man and pinned him to the ground until help arrived.