Residents bolt doors as police hunt suspect in Mountie shootings

Residents of a small Saskatchewan town are keeping their doors bolted while Mounties search for a man wanted in the shooting of two of its officers.

"We just got a bunch of neighbours phoning us to make sure we knew [Curtis Alfred Dagenais was wanted]," said one resident in the farming community of Mildred, about 140 kilometres west of Prince Albert.

"And we phoned a bunch of neighbours to make sure they knew and stuff like that. Everyone just says keep your gun loaded and keep your doors locked."

Dagenais is wanted in the shooting of two RCMP officers on Friday night near Mildred,a community just east of Spiritwood, the detachment where the officers were based.

RCMP said early Monday Cst. Robin Cameron, 29, and Cst. Marc Bourdages, 26, remained in serious condition in intensive care in a Saskatoon hospital following surgery on the weekend.

Violent temper

Residents of Spiritwood, a town with a population of about 1,000, said on the weekend that Dagenais isknown to have a violent temper.

"He's not the best person in town, that's for sure," said Holly Robinson, a clerk at a Spiritwood department store.

"He's got a bad reputation. He's not well liked. You see him and he flies off the handle lots. He's a little weird. He drinks a lot, I know that," she said.

Robinson said the RCMP manhunt, currently focusing onwooded areas near the town, is unsettling.

"Nobody knows what is going on and everyone is scared," she said. "Everybody is worried for the cops, obviously, because most of us know them."