Windsor officer John Atkinson remembered 20 years after line-of-duty killing

(AM800 News file image)

It was May 5, 2006. It began as a typical Friday but would become one of the darkest days in modern history for the City of Windsor.

The call came in at 2:07 p.m.: an officer was down.

Minutes earlier, Const. John Atkinson, a plainclothes officer, had stopped to get gas at a convenience store at Seminole Street and Pillette Road. He saw two teenagers acting suspiciously in the parking lot, displayed his badge and moved in to investigate.

One of the teens, Nikkolas Brennan, pulled out a 9-mm handgun and shot Atkinson in the face. Despite being gravely wounded, the 37-year-old officer managed to return fire but missed. He fell face-first onto the sidewalk and died as the two teens fled.

The married father of two became the first Windsor police officer killed in the line of duty in the force’s more than 120-year history.

Const. David DeLuca heard the dispatch and was the first officer to arrive. He did not recognize the victim at first because of the amount of blood, but then saw Atkinson’s badge, number 6744.

Within minutes, every available officer was called in, along with the Ontario Provincial Police, as police descended on the scene.

At 2:10 p.m., Const. Tim Harrington saw Brennan running from a back alley near Alice Street and Tourangeau Road and made the arrest. During a search, officers found 21 individually wrapped pieces of crack cocaine. The murder weapon was later found in the backyard of a home on Francois Road.

As the investigation unfolded, Atkinson’s home sat just down the street. His wife, Shelley, was preparing a birthday party for their daughter Nicole, who had just turned seven. Unable to reach her husband, she knew something was wrong.

Atkinson’s best friend, Const. Frank Bauer, arrived at the house and delivered the devastating news. He was followed by then-mayor Eddie Francis and police chief Glenn Stannard, who offered condolences.

Shelley then had to tell her children, Nicole and nine-year-old Mitchell, that their father had died.

Six days later, Atkinson was laid to rest.

Thousands attended the funeral at the University of Windsor, one of the few venues large enough to hold the crowd.

Six Windsor police officers carried the casket into the St. Denis Centre. Officers from the OPP, RCMP and across the United States attended, along with then premier Dalton McGuinty.

Two hundred officers from London, Ont., patrolled Windsor streets so Atkinson’s colleagues could attend the service.

The two teens who fled the scene were taken into custody.

Nikkolas Robert Brennan and Coty Clifford Defausses, both 18, were charged a day after the shooting with first-degree murder, along with drug and weapons offences.

Defausses was later sentenced to 20 months in jail for possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

In 2010, he was rearrested for breaching the conditions of his release. Police say he has been arrested several more times since, including for break and enter.

Brennan was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. He was initially sent to Kingston Penitentiary in 2007, but was transferred to Warkworth Institution, a medium-security prison near Belleville, just six years later — a move that shocked Atkinson’s family, police and the community and was widely criticized.

Brennan was 18 at the time of the crime and is now 38. He has spent more of his life behind bars than in society.

According to the Correctional Service of Canada, he will be eligible for unescorted temporary absence and day parole on May 15, 2028. He can apply for full parole in 2031.

Brennan declined an interview request from AM800.

Senior Const. John Atkinson is remembered for his lively, engaging personality, his smile and his dedication to his family and his profession.

He was a 14-year veteran of the force.

The Herb Gray Parkway tunnel near St. Clair College is named in his honour, as is the John Atkinson Community Centre on Alice Street.

Those honours were bestowed posthumously for a man who made the ultimate sacrifice for his community.