FREDERIC SERRE
The 1510 West

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Oct. 26, 1985, residents of Malcolm Circle in Dorval call 911 to report that a crazed man armed with a rifle and a shotgun is lurking around their neighbouhood, ringing doorbells and shouting. Moments later, constables Jacinthe Fyfe and partner Denis Denman arrive on the scene. From their cruiser, Fyfe spots an armed man standing near a row of bushes near 285 Malcolm Circle. The suspect opens fire on the cruiser as Fyfe attempts to drive away. The cruiser hits a tree as gunfire smashes the rear window of the police car. While Denman escapes unscathed, Fyfe is hit in the neck and dies instantly.

The 25-year-old Roxboro resident with only five years’ policing experience becomes the first female police officer to die in the line of duty in Canada. The suspect, 21-year-old Réal Poirier, escapes, but hours later, surrenders to police.

Nearly 40 years later, Fyfe is still remembered as a feisty and brave police officer who, despite being barely above five feet tall, never backed down from responding to a call. Last month, she was among 21 Montreal police officers who have been killed in the line of duty to be honoured during a ceremony at Montreal police headquarters.

While Poirier was charged in Fyfe’s killing, the case became complicated due to Poirier’s mental illness. The St. Zotique native suffered from schizophrenia. On the night of the tragedy, police said Poirier took his sister’s car, a rifle and a shotgun, and drove towards Montreal. However, he stopped in Dorval when he ran out of gas. According to the investigation, Poirier was armed because he had planned to shoot Montreal boxer Alex Hilton, who had beaten him three days earlier during a drunken argument in a bar in Rivière Beaudette.

A psychiatrist told Poirier’s trial that the incident with Hilton drove Poirier over the edge, and that he suffered from temporary insanity. The court acquitted Poirier, but sent him to the Pinel Institute for the Criminally Insane, where he spent one year before being released. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Cutline:
Jacinthe Fyfe was fatally shot while responding to a call on Malcolm Circle in Dorval in 1985. She was 25.