Woman widowed in Penbrooke standoff thought there was a surrender deal

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Hours earlier than he was fatally shot by police, Patrick Kimmel’s common-law spouse stated she believed he’d agreed to give up.

Every week after his demise, Michele Siebold stood within the rear doorway of the Penswood Approach S.E. residence, its partitions marked by blood spatters and bullet holes the place she stated her partner died in a hail of police gunfire round 8:30 p.m. on March 15.

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“That is the place he was shot and killed,” stated Siebold, stepping over a dried pool of blood on the ground.

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A black beanie usually worn by Kimmel, 45, lay on basement steps close to a picket beam simply contained in the doorway bearing investigators’ measuring tape tracing eight closely-grouped bullet holes.

However Siebold stated she was shocked by the information her husband was shot by police 30 hours right into a standoff that started on the afternoon of March 14 when officers say they had been greeted by gunfire when executing a search warrant.

Siebold stated police had been responding to a name about concern over the protection of her two youngsters, which she insists was unfounded.

About 4 or 5 hours earlier than his demise, after she’d spent quite a few hours alongside police attempting to coax him out of the bungalow, Siebold stated she was at CPS headquarters in northeast Calgary when officers informed her they’d come to an understanding with Kimmel.

“They stated, ‘now we have an settlement,’ that they thought they’d provide you with a plan,” she stated.

“I don’t know what occurred between 4 p.m. and eight:30 p.m. (Friday) … I solely noticed that he’d been killed on the information — I used to be past shocked.”

Final Friday, the lady and Kimmel’s brother Michael picked by way of the upended furnishings of a home whose partitions had been punched in by massive police projectiles. Every week later, the remnants of tear gasoline nonetheless irritated the eyes, throat and nostrils.

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They accused police of gratuitously ransacking their residence following the standoff.

Siebold stated on March 14, police arrived with out calling or knocking on their door however fired a projectile by way of a basement window and known as over a megaphone for Kimmel to return out of the home.

She stated they had been alarmed by the aggressive strategy, significantly after the couple handled officers amicably the day before today once they reported an try and steal certainly one of their autos.

“There was decision — they weren’t frightened of Pat then,” stated Siebold, 33.

After spending 20 minutes attempting to persuade her husband to depart the house, Siebold stated she exited together with her eight-year-old son, grandfather, 92, and her 65-year-old mom, apprehensive of what would possibly come subsequent.

Kimmel, 45, who’d she’d been with on and off for the previous decade, feared going again to jail and was vehement he wouldn’t.

“Regardless, if he was getting in for a day or a 12 months or 10 years, he wasn’t going to do it,” she stated.

“Once we went out we stated goodbye, he stated he was in all probability not going to make it out of right here.”

She stated frustrations over the parole system and his seemingly fruitless efforts to fulfill their calls for had boiled over.

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Mentioned his brother Michael: “He stated he’d by no means let the police put him in handcuffs once more as a result of he was at all times abused.”

Siebold stated she was exterior the home when gunfire erupted and was hustled to security by a pair of undercover officers.

“(Police) informed me it was him who fired first,” she stated.

In that preliminary alternate, Siebold stated her husband was struck within the left arm and proper cheek.

Amongst upturned objects within the couple’s bed room tossed about by water pumped in to flush out Kimmel was a bloodstained mattress the place he in all probability laid after being shot, she stated.

Police say the person they killed had a protracted felony file.

In 2019, Kimmel was sentenced in a Drumheller court docket to 16 months jail time on 2018 prices that included uttering threats and assault.

He’d additionally been arrested for a September 2021 armed residence invasion theft in Drumheller through which nobody was injured.

These prices had been stayed in Could 2022 however reportedly, Parole Board of Canada paperwork point out his day parole was revoked that very same 12 months as a consequence of substance abuse and a relationship violation.

He was convicted of a Calgary cost of possession of a loaded, prohibited or restricted firearm on Dec. 20, 2021, and given a 2½-year jail time period and a weapons prohibition.

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However after being launched from jail final summer time he’d accomplished nicely, stated Siebold, was pleased and it wasn’t his intention to die by the hands of police through the standoff.

“He was 45 but it surely was like he was 25 — issues had been going nice,” she stated.

After the March 14-15 drama started, Siebold stated she spent 18½ hours on the cellphone attempting to persuade her husband to give up, insisting he wanted medical assist and even supplied herself as “bait.”

“One thought was that he might spend a while with me at (CPS headquarters earlier than being incarcerated),” she stated, including he requested cigarettes and pizza.

“I informed him, ‘it doesn’t matter what occurs, I’ll go to you in jail’ … a few instances we nearly had him (out).”

And she or he and Michael Kimmel stated they don’t consider the lifeless man was firing straight at police through the 30-hour standoff, however relatively squeezed out rounds vertically or over officers’ heads from his .22-calibre firearm.

Bullet holes scarring the house’s basement ceiling, stated Siebold, had been fired by her husband.

“Pat would by no means need to kill anybody despite the fact that they had been cops and he hates them … he was doing it to warn them,” she stated, including she was beforehand unaware Kimmel had weapons in the home.

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Kimmel’s brother stated his sibling was a crack shot, that they’d spent hours taking pictures at rural properties “and he hardly ever missed.”

Police say Kimmel fired greater than 100 rounds through the incident through which neighbours had been informed to shelter in place.

There have been no bullet holes readily obvious in adjoining autos or buildings, and neighbours Postmedia spoke to on March 16 stated they couldn’t discover any.

A CPS spokeswoman stated they’ll’t touch upon the case as a result of it’s beneath investigation by the Alberta Severe Incident Response Crew.

However in a tweet the day after standoff ended, Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld stated Kimmel was the violent creator of his demise.

“A tragic consequence, however one dictated by a topic who selected to threaten and show extraordinarily violent behaviour over an prolonged interval. I’m pleased with our officers,” he stated.

“They did their greatest to handle this towards a peaceable decision. I’m relieved no officers or residents had been harmed.”

And in a World Information interview broadcast final Thursday, Neufeld reiterated that his personnel dealt with the state of affairs admirably.

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“These (selections on ending the standoff) are very heavy selections to make, frankly, and I’m very pleased with the oldsters who made them on this case over 30 hours,” stated Neufeld.

“How a lot time ought to police spend in saving an individual’s life — is it 30 hours, is it 24?”

No particular police officer got here near being shot by Kimmel as a result of they had been sheltered in a CPS armored tactical car and one other one equipped by the RCMP, he stated.

“We had folks fairly shut up however we had armored autos … the rounds that had been popping out of the home in some instances had been coming towards our armored car,” stated Neufeld.

“Conditions like these underscore why now we have these items of apparatus.”

In a press launch, police stated the incident got here to an finish after it “escalated” at round 8:30 p.m. Friday “and members of our Tactical Unit, together with members of the RCMP Emergency Response Crew, had been required to discharge their service weapons and one man has been declared deceased.”

Police haven’t disclosed how that escalation occurred.

In a video recorded early Friday night by a neighbour shortly earlier than Kimmel’s demise, a Calgary police officer might be heard on their doorstep saying they had been going to “amp issues up a bit bit.”

Regardless of his run-ins with the regulation, Siebold and his brother say Kimmel was a sort and giving man who loved glass work and the game of fencing.

However his widow stated she will’t assist however really feel some anger in the direction of him for not surrendering.

“I’m offended however I’m additionally unhappy,” stated Siebold.

“I can perceive Pat’s facet of it, however then I can’t.”

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn

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