Josh Peterson knows gunshot wounds. He says he expected the worst when he showed up in the hospital emergency room to check on his 66-year-old dad.
Peterson is a veteran cop in Prince Albert, Sask., which is about 130 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. On Oct. 24 he got news that his dad, Orlan, had survived a close-range shotgun blast in a robbery north of the city.
Josh raced to the hospital, running disaster scenarios in his head during a 10-minute drive “that seemed to take forever.”
“It was terrifying, I was basically thinking about what the funeral’s going to look like, how I’m going to tell my brother and sister,” Josh said in an interview.
“Then getting to the hospital and into the emergency room was terrifying. But rounding the corner where I could see his face and he was still conscious, I was able to go in there and squeeze his hand, you know, and just say, ‘keep fighting Dad.’ And he was very happy to see me.”
Orlan Peterson, grievously wounded in a robbery that triggered a provincewide RCMP dangerous persons alert, had walked a kilometre to a busy highway. A passerby pulled over and called 911.
“I’ve always said he’s one of the toughest men I’ve ever met,” Josh said.
“No quit.”
‘I can tell the story if you want’
Josh is a supervisor with the Prince Albert Police Service, with just over 18 years under his belt. On the morning of Oct. 24, he was resting up and prepping to change over to working the night shift.
Orlan is a senior site superintendent with RNF Ventures Ltd. in Prince Albert. He is a red seal journeyman carpenter with a wall of awards and 25 years on the job.
Josh said his dad told him in the hospital about what had happened that morning on Lempereur Road, north of Prince Albert. Josh met with CBC in a Prince Albert hotel room five days later, on Oct. 29.
“I can tell the story if you want,” he said.
It’s important, he added, because in the end the good outweighs the bad.
Josh Peterson says his 66-year-old dad survived a shotgun blast in a rural robbery through a mix of luck, faith and grit.
‘Sorry bro, I gotta shoot you’
Josh said his dad got to the worksite, about 14 kilometres north of city, around 6:45 a.m. CST. He was driving a company Dodge Ram truck.
“It’s pitch black, because it’s a rural job site. So to get lights and electricity, he was filling up the generator with gasoline. And then all of a sudden, he saw two vehicles come screaming into the job site. He talks about seeing the dust in the air and, like, the headlights,” Josh said.
“All of a sudden this guy came running up to him and shoved the shotgun into his face and said, ‘Get down on the ground,’ and, ‘Where’s all your stuff?’ And [Orlan] said, ‘It’s all in the truck. Take it, take the truck, it’s yours.’ And then the guy hit him in the back of the head with the stock of the shotgun. And then Dad said he could feel the cold barrel at the base of his head, like neck, and he just started praying. He thought his life was over.”
Josh said that instead of pulling the trigger, the man ordered Orlan to his feet and into the trailer.
“Once they got into the job trailer, [the assailant] said to him, ‘Sorry bro, I gotta shoot you.’ And dad said he just buried his head and started praying.”
Orlan shifted his weight and angled his left side forward, taking the shotgun blast in the shoulder and arm.
The man took off out of the trailer, leaving Orlan for dead.
“Dad said he never lost consciousness, but initially thought he got ‘er in the guts because his whole body was on fire,” he said.
While he was bleeding and in pain, Orlan had other concerns.
“He was fearful they were going to come back and finish him off, once [they] knew he was still alive. So he found some tie wire and wired the door to the trailer shut so they couldn’t come back in,” Josh said.
“He spent about an hour in the trailer.… Because his watch was on his left hand he couldn’t access it to see it. He was just trying to hold up his hand. But he estimates at about 8 [a.m.] he was like, ‘OK, I gotta go.’ So he just started walking.”
Dangerous persons alert
Josh said he learned about what happened before the provincewide alert went out.
A friend of Josh’s lives just north of his dad’s job site. An electrician at the friend’s place that morning mentioned that he’d heard a man had been shot just down the road, “and he looks like Orlan Peterson.”
The friend raced to the scene, saw Orlan in the ambulance, and called Josh.
At 9:55 a.m. CST, the RCMP issued a provincewide dangerous persons alert, setting cellphones buzzing with the ominous message about a shooting, armed suspects on the loose and the need for the public to take immediate shelter. It warned of three or four males, armed and dangerous, wearing black balaclavas and driving Peterson’s white work truck.
Further updates came in the following hours. The four suspects were believed to be heading north toward Tobin Lake on Highway 123.
RCMP cancelled the alert at 4:12 p.m. CST that same day.
The truck the suspects were in had crashed into a heavy equipment vehicle on a northern road. The group took off into the bush on foot, but were spotted by the Saskatoon police plane three kilometres away, running along the bank of the Saskatchewan River.
Two of the suspects, a man and a woman, were arrested and have been charged with nine counts related to the attack, including aggravated assault, robbery with a firearm and discharging a firearm with intent. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Police are still trying to identify and find two other suspects who vanished into the dense, thick bush and swampland.
A life of kindness
Josh said he’s surprised, but not shocked, by the outpouring of support for his dad as he recovers in a Saskatoon hospital.
Josh’s friend Brad Grolla organized a GoFundMe page to help offset medical expenses and it has raised just over $103,000.
Peterson’s long-time employer, RNF Ventures Ltd., said on its employee profile, “The relationships that he has developed within the industry speak highly of his easy going nature and his ability to get things done.”
Josh said he is still thinking about the conversation with his dad after the shooting. Rather than thirsting for vengeance, he said Orlan wondered about what life circumstances had led the man in the trailer to shoot another man in cold blood.
“My dad treated everybody like they were important. He’s one of the most kind and gentle people I’ve ever met in my life,” he said.
“What’s the takeaway? Make sure that you treat everybody like they matter. Show compassion. Go out of your way to be welcoming.
“I guess you’re never too old to stop learning from your dad.”
