'An irrational act'
Top-ranking female officer, retired superintendent found in scene of horror The service pistol used belonged to Kelly Johnson, a leader in fighting domestic violence.
By RANDY RICHMOND AND KELLY PEDRO, SUN MEDIA
'An irrational act'
Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson
Just before London police's "rising female star" and her ex-lover, a retired officer, were killed in a murder-suicide, she made a mysterious stop at the police station.
Then, Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson, the force's highest- ranking female officer, jumped into a waiting van.
Minutes later, two gunshots were fired inside a van before it crashed into a brick wall six blocks away from the station, outside Johnson's apartment building at 7 Picton St.
Stunned neighbours found Johnson, 40, dead, her face bloody, her 9 mm Glock service pistol -- which she wasn't authorized to have with her -- on her lap.
Beside her, the driver of the van and her ex-lover, retired superintendent David Lucio, 57, was slumped over with what witnesses called a bullet wound to the head.
Neighbours called 911 at 12:01 a.m yesterday and police arrived within four minutes to discover the unthinkable: two of their own were dead.
Even more unthinkable -- police and civilian sources and witness accounts pointed yesterday to Johnson -- a noted community leader in fighting domestic violence -- as the one who shot Lucio.
A subdued police Chief Murray Faulkner stressed police won't know who shot whom until after an autopsy scheduled for today.
"Nothing that happened last night makes any sense right yet," he told The Free Press. "There will be sources that say that (Johnson was the shooter), and I understand that."
"But we need to have proof, not just speculation, not just opinion," Faulkner said.
Even after the autopsies, police may never know why the killings occurred.
"Was there anything yesterday that would indicate there would be a problem at midnight last night? Not a single thing. Was there anything in her mood, anything? No, no," Faulkner said.
Faulkner said he didn't know why Johnson, after leaving work about 5 p.m., returned just before midnight.
"Did she come to get some workout clothes? Did she come to get her service revolver? I don't know."
She wasn't authorized to take her gun home, Faulkner said.
An officer who saw Johnson at the station noticed nothing amiss, Faulkner said.
The first civilians to find Johnson and Lucio after the shooting described a scene of quiet horror.
"I heard a gunshot, then I heard an engine revving and then a crash," said Brian Kearn, who was in the front lobby of his apartment building near where the van crashed.
He and several other building residents ran outside.
"We tried to get in the van and help the victims but the doors were locked," he said.
Kearn said he saw a female passenger, with a severe head wound from a gunshot, sitting in the passenger side. A handgun rested on her lap.
The male driver appeared to have a bullet wound to his right temple, Kearn said.
"There was no movement. The people were obviously dead."
Other witnesses described seeing the man with a bloody left arm and blood down his back.
"It was awful, just gruesome" said one woman, a nearby resident. "You could see blood on the airbags."
Another resident of the same building said he heard a bang and watched from his second-floor window as the van rolled back after hitting the wall.
When he got to the van, "they were lifeless."
Police on the scene grew instantly quiet once they opened the van, Kearn said.
"There were quite subdued. They were quite quiet."
Johnson was an 18-year veteran of the force.
She's served for several years as the detective sergeant in charge of the sexual assault and child abuse section and supervised the force's domestic violence co-ordinator.
Five days ago, she was named acting inspector of the department's professional standards branch.
Kelly "was a very bright, articulate community-minded officer . . . If there was a rising star, specifically female, she was it," Faulkner said.
Lucio retired as superintendent in 2004 after 35 years of service.
Johnson was a role model for many of the about 100 female officers, Faulkner said.
"Lucio was a role model for many of the male officers," Faulkner said.
"When you see this happen to two people that you either very much admire and emulate, it shakes your confidence."
Most of the force's 180 civilian employees took the news especially hard, Faulkner said.
"It's the tough cop that doesn't show emotion, but civilian staff are not used to that."
A shaken police board chair- person, Ab Chahbar, said it was a sad day for the force.
"You can see it all over their faces," he said.
Faulkner confirmed Johnson and Lucio had had a relationship, but didn't say how close they were.
The two were ex-lovers, several sources told The Free Press.
Johnson had been married for several years to a fellow London officer, Steve Pearson, but they separated.
Lucio was also separated from his wife.
It wasn't clear if Lucio and Johnson still had a relationship.
The deaths stunned not only the 720 members of the force, but hundreds more in community groups where the two high-profile officers volunteered.
"It's just a great personal tragedy for both families, friends and loved ones and anyone who worked with either one of them," said Megan Walker, head of the London Abused Women's Centre.
"He was a very, very close friend of mine . . . He loved being a cop," said Dave Scatcherd, owner of the Oakwood resort in Grand Bend.
Police called Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which probes civilian deaths and injuries from police actions, but the agency left the case to London police because the "subject officer" was dead, Faulkner said.