Constable Valérie Gignac
Police de Laval
Québec
End of Watch: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Biographical Info
Age: 25
Tour of Duty: 4 years, 8 months
Badge Number: 803

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Weapon Used: Rifle
Suspect Info: Apprehended

Constable Gignac was shot and killed after responding to an apartment building in the Montreal suburb of Laval.

Around 11:00am, Constable Gignac and her partner responded to a call in an apartment building regarding a person who was reportedly extremely agitated and aggressive. When she knocked at the suspect's door, she was shot once through the closed door by a male suspect armed with a high-calibre rifle. After being shot, her partner administered CPR on her until paramedics arrived.

She was transported to Hopital Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Hospital) in Montreal where she succumbed to her injury. The armed suspect barricaded himself in the apartment, resulting in an armed stand-off with police SWAT teams from both the Laval Police Service and the Quebec Provincial Police. The suspect was known to police and they had responded to his apartment before. After hours of negotiation, he surrendered to police with no further incident at around 6:45pm.

Constable Gignac had served with the Laval Police Department for 4 years and had previously served with the Police de Repentigny for 8 months. She is survived by her husband, also a Laval constable in the K-9 section.

To commemorate the one year anniversary of her passing, the Laval Police Service and the City of Laval dedicated a plaque to honour Constable Gignac by renaming the station where she had worked after her. The building will forever be known as the Valérie Gignac Building, even if the station changes vocation and becomes a public library or a school.