 Police investigate at the fatal shooting scene at Great West Chrysler at 17817 Stony Plain Rd. in Edmonton. (PERRY MAH/QMI Agency)
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EDMONTON -- When an Edmonton man shot two co-workers and turned the gun on himself at a car dealership last week, it wasn’t the first time he took a life in a fit of violence.
Before he moved to the Alberta capital, Dave Burns fatally stabbed a fellow teenager in the heart during a fight at a social in Winnipeg in February 1974.
Thirty-six years later, a disgruntled Burns fatally gunned down parts manager Garth Radons and critically wounded a second man before killing himself Friday.
A shop supervisor, Burns’ violent past was a secret to his bosses and co-workers.
Then 19, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in October 1974 and was sentenced to four years in prison for the slaying of 18-year-old Garvin Dale Inglis outside a River Avenue club.
“It’s sort of like this person had the opportunity to do this again,” said Arla, one of Inglis’ sisters, speaking to Global TV in Winnipeg on Sunday. “And why? What would have allowed that to take place?”
Burns, now 54 or 55, was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, according to an archived newspaper report of his sentencing.
Witnesses said the fight began over a spilled drink and was apparently settled until Burns approached Inglis later in the night, telling him he owed him $2 for a shirt ripped in the earlier scuffle, the report stated.
The fight resumed outside. Burns then pulled a knife to “frighten” Inglis, who suffered a knife wound during the scuffle.
The blade pierced the centre of Inglis’ heart, about 10 cm deep.
Witness statements differed on who was responsible for starting the fight and how Inglis suffered the fatal wound, according to the report.
The judge said it appeared Inglis went to the social looking for a fight but he didn’t condone Burns’ decision to bring a knife to the event.
In his latest slaying, Burns’ weapon was a sawed-off shotgun.
The rampage occurred the day Burns finished a two-week suspension from his job at Great West Chrysler Jeep in west Edmonton for posting a sexually-explicit photo on a staff bulletin board to mock a non-white co-worker, colleagues and industry insiders said previously.
The co-worker complained to management and filed a human rights complaint, which allegedly set Burns off, a co-worker said.
