Calgary paramedics remember 50th anniversary of chaotic Black Friday shooting

Retired emergency workers from the City of Calgary gathered in Cochrane to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Black Friday Shooting, while honouring the heroes who responded to the deadly incident.

Brian Winter of the Cochrane EMS Crisis Citizen Action Club said the Dec. 20 event, was an informal way of honouring several paramedics who were working that day.

“We just thought we’d come and say thank you, and mark the day of the 50th anniversary of the big shooting,” Winter said. “So, our particular group, decided to see if we can honour that.”

On Dec. 29, 1974, Calgary Police Service (CPS) responded to a call from a shopkeeper regarding an abusive customer named Phillipe Gangnon. Gangnon was looking to buy several tubes of model airplane glue, but the shopkeeper refused to do business with him since he already purchased multiple tubes the week before.

Police arrived on scene where they learned Gangnon was wanted on a warrant. At the time, he was visibly deranged after sniffing glue for several days.

Officers Harvey Gregorash, Mel Lynn, and Tom Dick attempted to arrest Gangnon, but they were not aware of the cache of modified weapons he had. This led to a deadly shootout between Gangnon, who hunkered down in a makeshift bunker in his garage, and CPS.

During the ensuing shootout, paramedics Bob “Bullet” Willis and Doug Davis were the first paramedics on scene who treated officers in the middle of a firefight.

“The bullets were flying through the garage,” Davis said. “It was a horrible afternoon.”

Willis, better known as Bullet said it was a long day. He received he nickname after rescuing an injured officer in the middle of the gunfire.

In a photo that captured the event, Bullet was smoking a cigarette as he fixed the bandages on one of the officers. Although he wasn’t supposed to be smoking with a patient, Bullet said he would only stop smoking the moment Gangnon stopped shooting.

“The policeman, I bandaged him up, he’d been shot in the head, and in that picture there, I’m tucking the bandage back in because it became a little loose,” Bullet said. “I had just happened to have a smoke, because I was supposed to be on break. I was enjoying my smoke, and all this shit happened.”

At the time, the weapons of the Calgary Police were ineffective in stopping the shooter’s defenses. Tear gas was also not effective due to the effects of him snorting glue. This led to involvement from Canadian Armed Forces, where an armoured personnel carrier from Currie Barracks crushed the garage.

Gangnon was shot dead after trying to escape.

Looking back on the events 50 years ago, Bullet said he would only change one thing.

“I would have taken my rifle with me,” Bullet said. “He wouldn’t have lasted long; I was a hunter too. I couldn’t believe the police didn’t have a rifle.”

Forty years later, Bullet and Davis would be the only two citizens to receive the Police Chief’s award for their services on Black Friday.

Although he wasn’t serving at the time of the Black Friday Shooting, Retired CPS officer Brian Boechler said it shaped the way CPS operates and responds to situations like these.

“The emblems of the Calgary Police themselves, the black patch behind it actually resembles Black Friday,” he said. “It was also the beginning of when they started incorporating, or developing, the new tactical unit. To help incorporate it into these situations and be better facilitated to stand up to barricaded individuals such as this.”

Boechler outlines that everyone who played their role in the events of Black Friday were absolute legends.

“Listening to their stories, being part of that, and actually growing up with them was such an honour,” he said. “I don’t think you can explain that to anybody unless they’ve experienced it with those guys.

“There’s absolutely no words that you to can tell anybody what it’s like to be with these legends.”