Winnipeg police acted appropriately in Kevin Runke incident, IIU concludes

Winnipeg police officers acted appropriately when they tried to approach Kevin Runke, who was a person of interest in his ex-wife's death last year. They found himinside a vehicle where he had killed himself, Manitoba's police watchdog has ruled.

Manitoba's Independent Investigation Unit released the findings of its investigation Friday into the Nov. 2, 2015, incident in St. Malo, Man.

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"The actions of police were careful and appropriate in the circumstances," the IIU stated in a news release.

Runke, 49, was being investigated in connection with the death of his estranged wife, Camille Runke, who was found shot to death outside her workplace on Marion Street three days earlier.

The IIU says Winnipeg Police Service members were in St. Malo on the morning of Nov. 2, as part of the homicide investigation, when they spotted a vehicle registered to Kevin Runke.

The officers turned on their emergency lights and siren in a bid to stop the vehicle, but it kept going for another five kilometres before it suddenly veered off the road, went through a ditch and a barbed-wire fence and into a field. The vehicle eventually stopped in a wooded area, the investigation found.

The officers approached the vehicle once back-up arrived and found Kevin Runke dead with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun between his legs and a serious head injury, the IIU said.

In his report, IIU civilian director Zane Tessler said none of the officers involved had made any verbal or physical contact with Runke, no police vehicles made contact with his vehicle, and no police firearms were discharged.