Black Friday

Cole's notes: 50 Years ago today - I was a junior photographer for the Calgary Herald working this story.

The photos are by John Colville, Bill Herriot, Roger Pierce, myself and others.

40 years ago Black Friday transformed Calgary policing

Officially it was the last day of fall, cool with little snow around. It was the last Friday before Christmas, a pay day. And December 20, 1974 was the last day of Calgary Detective Boyd Davidson's life.

Author of the article:

By Brenton Harding

A Christmas season shooting shook the city of Calgary 50 years ago today, while also providing the impetus for the Calgary Police Service to form its own tactical team — a key resource in dealing with high-risk events in the decades since.

The tragic incident led to eight police officers being shot, one fatally, as a glue-sniffing convicted rapist let loose a barrage of bullets that changed the face of policing in our city forever. The day became known as "Black Friday."

It was Dec. 20, 1974, and Philippe Laurier Gagnon was intent on getting his hands on some glue. He entered a small store near 9th Street S.E. where the shop's owner refused to sell him the product. He'd been in the store several times buying glue, but the female owner had recently decided to stop selling it to him. Gagnon threatened the owner, prompting her to call police.

Police tracked Gagnon down to a converted garage behind 1034 – 9th Street S.E., where he was living. A six-foot pit in the garage provided an ideal spot for Gagnon to hide out and begin shooting at police, over and over and over again. Gagnon was believed to have two semi-automatic rifles. (A later inquest into the incident found the guns to be bolt action rifles.)

Hundreds – some say thousands — of bullets flew through the air during the two-hour-long standoff that involved up to 200 police officers. Large crowds of onlookers gathered as close as they could get to the scene. At one point, bullets ripped through the air about 200 metres north of the garage, sending police officers and reporters diving for cover.

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Among the police on scene was Det. Boyd Davidson, a 43-year-old father of five kids. He shot out the window of Gagnon's garage, to facilitate possible use of tear gas. That's when one of Gagnon's bullets ripped through two walls of the adjacent garage where Boyd was positioned, killing him. The detective had served almost 25 years with the police service. He'd walked one of his daughters down the aisle just two weeks earlier, on her wedding day.

Seven other officers were shot and survived their injuries ranging from a throat wound and head wound to shoulder injuries and a buttocks wound. Staff at the then-still-standing General Hospital crowded around a radio and ambulance dispatch system to better understand what was coming their way. Taking care of the wounded was a massive operation for hospital and ambulance personnel.

The garage pit made it impossible for police to reach Gagnon with bullets or tear gas. This was before the days when the service had a tactical team, so police called in the military for assistance. A tank-like vehicle (Cole's Note: Armoured personnel carrier) was dispatched from what was then a Canadian Forces Base in Calgary. Escorted by several police vehicles with lights and sirens blaring, the tank weaved its way through Friday rush hour traffic as commuters were making their way home after the work week.

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