Peepeekisis Cree Nation woman who stood between armed man and his wife awarded posthumous bravery medal
CBC
A woman from the Peepeekisis Cree Nation, about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina, has been posthumously awarded a Medal of Bravery for standing between an armed man and his wife during a domestic dispute.
Sandra Desnomie, then 58, was battling cancer at the time and also stood between the armed man and police, according to one of her daughters.
"When I had heard what had happened in the incident, I was just like, 'My mother is a warrior,'" Billiejean Dieter said. "Her warrior spirit awoke in that day and she fought and she did what she had to do to protect the innocent people that were involved."
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon presented the medal to Dieter and another one of Desnomie's daughters, Patricia June Lawson, at a ceremony Thursday in Ottawa at Rideau Hall.
According to the Governor General's office, Desnomie's intervention took place at a clinic in Peepeekisis on July 11, 2018.
It said that when an armed man threatened his wife with a rifle, Desnomie stood between them and "talked him down."
It also said she twice grabbed the rifle, "tearing off parts of it until it fell."
The man left and was later intercepted by police, it said.
In a news release issued around the time of the incident, police said they arrested a man after he was spotted leaving the medical centre in the Peepeekisis Cree Nation with a rifle.
Police said multiple people called 911 about an active shooter at the medical centre.
According to police, when File Hills First Nations Police Service officers arrived, the man allegedly came out with a gun and started walking toward a truck.
After ordering the man — described as very agitated and angry — to stop, officers used pepper spray on him and arrested him, police said.
Dieter said that during her mother's struggle with the armed man in the clinic, the gun's magazine went flying and she knew he could no longer fire the weapon. When the man was about to leave the building, her mom realized the police outside were armed and their weapons were raised because he was still holding the gun, Dieter said.
"My mom went and intervened on that and told the police, 'Don't shoot,' because she knew that the weapon wasn't loaded," Dieter said. "She also went and saved his life that day also."
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