By Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press
RCMP Cpl. Brianne Bartmanovich is shown in this handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout – RCMP)
A Mountie seriously injured in a highway crash while responding to a mass stabbing on a Manitoba First Nation says she’s doing well but the tragedy will stay with her forever.
Cpl. Brianne Bartmanovich, a member of the detachment in Powerview, says she has served Hollow Water First Nation for seven years and her thoughts are with the victims and their families.
“I am hopeful that together, we will be able to heal in our own time,” she said in a statement released by the RCMP on Friday.
“Thank you to everyone who has reached out and sent kind messages for my recovery. It means so much to me and to my family.”
Police have said 26-year-old Tyrone Simard of Hollow Water First Nation killed his 18-year-old sister and wounded seven others at two homes on the First Nation northeast of Winnipeg on Sept. 2.
Simard fled in a stolen vehicle and died in a crash with an RCMP cruiser heading to the community.
Bartmanovich was driving the cruiser and was rushed to hospital.
At a news conference after the stabbings, Premier Wab Kinew described the officer as a hero and thanked her for stopping “a man on a rampage.”
Bartmanovich said she will be OK thanks to emergency responders and staff at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
The attacks came exactly three years after a mass stabbing on the James Smith First Nation and in the nearby community of Weldon, Sask., which left 11 people dead and 17 injured.
The killer later died in police custody.
