Paramedic widow learned husband was shot while trying to save second Edmonton officer

Résumé détaillé

Dennis Okeymow apologized to the officers’ families as court heard victim impact statements and arguments over how long he should spend behind bars.

One of the last memories Ashley Ryan has of her husband is wiping blood off his face shortly after he was shot while responding to a domestic disturbance call in Edmonton four years ago.

Ryan, who worked as a paramedic for about 13 years, recounted the traumatic moment in court Tuesday, reading her victim impact statement in the sentencing hearing of 22-year-old Dennis Okeymow.

Const. Brett Ryan and his partner, Const. Travis Jordan, were killed in March 2023 when they arrived at an apartment building.

They were ambushed and shot by 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk. The boy then turned the gun on himself.

Court heard that weeks earlier Okeymow sold the semi-automatic rifle to the teen, who had a history of mental illness.

Okeymow was found guilty in May on 10 charges, including three counts of manslaughter and three counts of criminal negligence causing the deaths of the officers and the shooter.

Ashley Ryan told court she was at the Royal Alexandra Hospital when Jordan was wheeled in. She was trying to revive him when, moments later, an ambulance pulled up with her husband.

“The blood-curdling screams that I let out when I realized that it was Brett on that stretcher will never not echo in that ambulance bay,” said Ryan, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time with their first child.

“I cleaned up my husband’s blood and brain matter off his face and his beard. So when our family and friends came to say goodbye, they didn’t have to witness the carnage done to him and see the way that I saw him for the last time.”

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