Bridge dedicated to fallen Mountie

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This article was published 03/06/2024 (514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VIRDEN — A refurbished bridge in Virden now honours an RCMP constable who was killed on duty in the community over 40 years ago.

The Seventh Avenue North bridge in Virden — which spans Scallion Creek and connects the town to the main downtown business district — was reopened last fall. But on Sunday, the community came together to dedicate it to a fallen community member.

In an early afternoon ceremony, Deputy Mayor Marc Savy and Mayor Tina Williams dedicated the bridge to Const. Dennis A. Onofrey, an RCMP officer who was shot and killed in 1978 at age 27, while on duty investigating a suspected stolen motor vehicle. When he was killed, he had a wife, young son, and daughter, Beckie, who would be born about two months after his death.

“We are honoured to stand here today to celebrate Constable Onofrey’s life,” Savy told the audience gathered on the bridge. “Manitoba will always remember the ultimate sacrifice that he made to keep this community safe.”

The fire department assisted with closing the road to traffic and community members filled the bridge despite the rainy weather.

Onofrey’s wife Paula, and son, Corey, who now live in North Vancouver, attended the ceremony, frequently wiping tears from their eyes.

“It’s very emotional,” Paula told the Sun. Her son, Corey, echoed her comments, adding that it was a signifcant welcome back to a community he had moved away from.

“I didn’t know what to expect, coming back is emotional, but in a good way,” he told the Sun and also extended a “heartfelt thanks” to the community of Virden for the dedication.

“The story of Constable Onofrey never left town,” Mayor Williams told the Sun. “but…we’ve never had a physical place to think about it.”

Much of the speeches, including those by MP Larry Maguire, MLA Ron Kostyshyn, MLA Greg Nesbitt, and superintendent of Manitoba RCMP west district Jeff Asmudson, focused on recognizing the work of police officers in the community.

“I think that people need to be reminded — (Onofrey) was a protector of our community, people need to be reminded that these are the people who protect us every day,” the mayor added.

It was shortly before 1 a.m. on Jan. 23, 1978 when Onofrey, Cpl. Russ Hornseth, Const. Candace Adele Smith and Const. John O’Ray went to the Virden Countryside Inn after another officer had noticed a truck that had been reported stolen in British Columbila parked outside a hotel room.

O’Ray went to the rear of the motel to ward off any chance anyone could escape through a back window, while Onofrey, with his gun drawn, and the other two officers went to Suite 20. Seconds later, after Hornseth asked the man who came to the door about the stolen truck, the occupant started firing with a shotgun.

Onofrey, 27, died on the spot. Hornseth was shot in the eye and Smith, a rookie in only her sixth week on patrol, was shot in the hip.

O’Ray fired several times at the fleeing motel-room occupants — Herbert Bruce Archer, 42, and his wife, 28-year-old Dorothy Lillian Malette — hitting Malette in the stomach. The pair escaped in one of the police cruisers and headed eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway in a mad search for more weapons, a new vehicle and medical help.

They first took a hostage at a farmhouse just east of Virden, tying up the family there. They then drove to another farm and stole a vehicle there, tying up another couple.

They drove to a third house and took a car after tying up the family there, and then ended up at a doctor’s house in Oak Lake where, for the next 93 hours, Archer held his hostage, along with the doctor and the doctor’s wife, at gunpoint. Archer agreed to have Malette taken to Brandon hospital and let the doctor go, although he continued to hold the doctor’s wife and a farmer hostage.

The standoff finally ended on Friday, Jan. 27, when a deal was negotiated which saw the hostages released in return for the dropping of outstanding fraud charges against him and agreeing to let him see Malette in hospital.

Both Archer and Malette were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. Archer later died while serving his sentence. Malette was released after 15 years when she successfully applied for earlier parole.

The bridge now dedicated in Onofrey’s memory had been damaged after a 2014 flood and, while it was passable for many years, desperately needed an overhaul, Virden CAO Rhonda Stewart told the Sun. Funding from the federal government contributed $950,000 while the province chipped in $528,000.

It was closed in the fall of 2022 and reopened to traffic a year later in the fall of 2023. A bronze plaque dedicating the bridge to Onofrey was also revealed during the ceremony. Plans are also in place for a street sign naming the bridge and a dedicated seating area.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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