It’s been more than three years since two police officers were killed during a domestic violence call in west Edmonton, just days after a pizza delivery driver was shot in the head with the same gun the shooter then turned on himself.

While the teenager behind the crimes will never stand trial because he took his own life, the young man who sold him drugs and the semi-automatic, assault-style gun is facing 17 charges and appeared in court on Monday.

As the trial got underway, new details from a 71-page-long agreed statement of facts also emerged about the crimes committed by teenage shooter Roman Shewchuk in March 2023.

Dennis Tyler Okeymow, now 21, standing trial for his part in the deaths of Edmonton Police Service officers Travis Jordan and Brett Ryan, along with 16-year-old Roman.

For those three deaths, he was charged with manslaughter with a firearm and pleaded not guilty.

Okeymow also pleaded not guilty after being charged with causing bodily harm to pizza delivery driver Rich (Richard) Albert and the shooter’s mother, Kateryna Shewchuk.

Okeymow did admit to selling Roman the gun and ammunition used in the deadly attack, as well as selling drugs to the minor.

Both shootings happened within a week of each other in March 2023, in the city’s Westmount Mall area, when Okeymow was 18.

The March 12, 2023, shooting at a Pizza Hut near Westmount Mall left Albert, who was working his second job as a pizza delivery driver, with permanent brain injuries.

The second shooting happened four days later at the gunman’s family apartment just across the road.

Rare manslaughter criminal case

The question central to the trial is, because Okeymow sold Shewchuk the gun — is he also responsible for the shootings that followed?

EPS Staff Sgt. Erik Bjarnason, the lead detective on the firearms investigation, told reporters at the Edmonton Law Courts that manslaughter charges of this nature are “very rare” but have been used before in cases like the 2005 Mayerthorpe massacre.

That’s when four RCMP officers were ambushed and killed before the shooter, James Roszko, also took his own life on the rural property northwest of Edmonton.

Shawn Hennessey and his brother-in-law, Dennis Cheeseman, admitted to giving Roszko a gun and a ride to his property, where the RCMP had been guarding a Quonset hut.

The two men ended up serving time behind bars for their actions leading up to the attack.

In the Edmonton crimes, the Crown alleges Okeymow should have reasonably known the risks of selling a semi-automatic assault style gun to a 16-year-old with no firearm license and is therefore responsible for the crimes committed with it.

Defense lawyer Jamil Sawani argued holding the seller of the gun responsible for everything that happened after sets a dangerous precedent.

Relationship between Roman and Okeymow

According to the agreed statements of facts, Okeymow and Roman met in the summer of 2021, when they were both teenagers (17 and 15), and their relationship was based on selling and buying drugs.

Okeymow was 17 and trafficking illegal substances via dial-a-dope methods at a commercial level, police said.

The court documents state Roman bought drugs several times from Okeymow between 2021 and 2022: primarily marijuana but also occasionally psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and cocaine.

The two would text or message via Snapchat when Roman was arranging to buy drugs, sometimes communicating in drug slang or colloquialisms. Police recovered over 600 messages.

Roman used the Account “romanshewchuk” and display name “roman” on Snapchat. Dennis Okeymow used the Account “menace2yeg122” and the display name “menace.”

In early 2023, Okeymow sold Roman a STG 44 firearm along with 80 rounds of ammunition for $2,500 — well over the combined retail value of $650.

That specific firearm had been purchased legally at Cabela’s in 2016 but changed hands a few times in the ensuing years, police determined.

The semi-automatic gun wasn’t illegal at the time of the 2023 shooting, but has since been banned in Canada.

The agreed statement of facts said there was no evidence that Okeymow provided Roman with any safety equipment for the safe storage or transport (trigger-lock,cable-lock, case, safe etc.), or use (ear or eye protection) of a firearm.

The last few times the two talked in early February of 2023, Roman sent Snapchat messages asking for cocaine at a discount because Okeymow had only provided 80 rounds of bullets instead of 100 as initially promised.

After the fatal police shootings, Okeymow messaged Roman “Yo you hear what happened” and “Right by your crib” — not knowing Roman was already dead.

He then deleted their Snapchat history, but police still saw the exchanges through Roman’s phone.

Even though Snapchat messages disappear after a set time period, police were able to recover the data.

Shooter’s mental health struggles

Roman Shewchuk’s parents repeatedly expressed concerns about his well-being.

Court heard the teenager had a documented history of mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Throughout 2022, Roman experienced repeated mental health crises requiring several police interventions, emergency department visits, and psychiatric hospitalizations.

During these episodes, court heard he displayed clear psychotic symptoms, including auditory hallucinations — including the belief that parasites had been implanted in his neck by aliens — delusional beliefs involving demons and possession, and paranoid or bizarre behaviour, as reported by both family members and clinical staff.

During a six-week psychiatric admission in the spring of 2022, he was prescribed anti-psychotic medication and records showed his condition improved when he stopped using weed while hospitalized — but he quickly reverted to his old ways after being discharged.

Not taking his meds and resuming cannabis use contributed to worsening psychotic symptoms and declining functioning.

Roman was apprehended by police under the Mental Health Act and admitted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s Child Psychiatry Unit in the fall of 2022.

He again improved while hospitalized, but once released, became non-compliant again and didn’t go back to school at Ross Sheppard High School.

From the beginning of 2022 to his death on March 16, 2023, Roman had several interactions with EPS due to his deteriorating psychiatric condition.

Family members frequently contacted police due to his psychosis, aggression, unpredictable behaviour, and escalating safety concerns within the home.

Pizza Hut shooting

The Pizza Hut shooting happened near 133 Street and 114 Avenue, just before 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Rich Albert, then 55, was working a second job helping with late-night weekend pizza deliveries at the Pizza Hut To Go.

The shooting happened about half an hour before closing.

He was standing by the counter when a masked gunman opened the front door, pointed a semi-automatic 22-calibre gun, shot him in the head from less than three feet away, and walked out.

The entire interaction took just six seconds — leaving the Edmonton man bleeding on the floor with a traumatic brain injury and wound that destroyed one of his eyes.

He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and remained there for several months, nearly dying from a brain abscess.

He had poor cognitive function and it took Albert months to be able to be consistently oriented to time, place and situation, let alone be able to do anything more complex.

The shooting left Albert with significant lifelong injuries, unable to work and requiring medical care for the rest of his life.

Albert lost sight in his left eye, still has bullet fragments lodged inside his brain, experiences short-term memory loss, anxiety spells and periodic bouts of depression.

Police dogs attempted to track the shooter down, but lost the scent near the nearby Woodcroft Edmonton Public Library.

Police investigators have never been able to find a motive for the Pizza Hut shooting. Roman never attempted to steal anything after shooting Albert in the head at close range. The two men were strangers and police determined the attack was random.

A bullet cartridge casing recovered from the scene of the March 12 Pizza Hut shooting matched the gun found at the March 16 apartment scene.

DNA found on a knife outside the Pizza Hut also matched Roman’s DNA.

EPS officers killed during domestic violence call

The police shooting happened four days later at the Baywood Park apartment complex near 114 Avenue and 132 Street, just across Groat Road from the strip mall containing the Pizza Hut.

Roman lived there with his parents, Katerina and Ronald Shewchuk.

On the night police officers Const. Brett Ryan and Const. Travis Jordan were shot, the court heard Roman had been making strange noises and talking in different voices inside his bedroom.

His mom tried to record the sounds from the hallway when Roman caught and attacked her, choking her until she was unconscious.

When she woke, she fled to a neighbour and got help calling 911, as her choked, sore throat made taking difficult.

Officers Jordan and Ryan responded to the domestic violence call.

When they arrived and met with Katerina, she expressed fear her son would kill himself.

She followed the officers as they walked inside and up to the second-floor apartment. The officers knocked and asked to come in and talk to Roman.

The three were instead met with a barrage of 10 bullets, most of which hit them in their heads.

Jordan was hit by two bullets, and Ryan was shot four times. One bullet was recovered from Kateryna (a second went through her) and one bullet was found lodged inside Roman. Three bullets were found in the hallway.

The officers died instantly — they were ambushed so quickly, neither had time to raise their own guns and fire back.

Kateryna was shot through the neck and mouth/jaw, but was able to flee.

Before backup arrived, Roman shot himself in the head. His father Ronald was inside the apartment and watched his son commit suicide.

After that, police dispatch lit up with so many 911 calls, the dispatcher routed the calls directly to police radios while frantically trying to reach Ryan and Jordan.

When the two didn’t respond, 911 dispatch ordered all available officers in the city to get to the apartment complex.

Air 1 helicopters, canine units and tactical teams descended as roads between the complex and the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital were shut down to facilitate a police ambulance escort.

The injured officers were rushed to the major trauma centre, but were officially declared dead upon arrival.

Jordan, 35, had been with EPS for eight-and-a-half years, and Ryan, 30, had been with the service for five-and-a-half years. Both were married and Ryan’s wife was pregnant with their first child.

Kateryna was found not responsive and staring off into space with critical injuries. She was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery. One of her teeth was found in the apartment hallway.

Roman was found in the front hallway with the gun beside him. Police later searched his room and found 50 unspent rounds of ammunition in a heart-shaped tin, along with other evidence connecting Roman to both shootings.

Undercover Operation Miguel

Months after the shootings, police began to suspect Dennis Okeymow had provided the gun and an investigation was launched to gather more information from him.

He was arrested in July 2023 on an unrelated matter by Sherwood Park RCMP, in order for police to get him connected to an undercover officer with the code name Miguel.

That officer was involved in a staged traffic stop and Okeymow was driven past, where the cop appeared to be detained for a firearms offence. The two were then housed in the same cell at the RCMP detachment while their conversations were monitored.

After being celled together for several hours, the two were released within minutes of one another. Then, another undercover officer posing as Miguel’s girlfriend offered a ride and dropped their suspect back off near his home.

That November, Okeymow was arrested for firearms trafficking and other offences while at his home near 160 Street and 98 Avenue in west Edmonton. His phone was seized and analyzed by forensic investigators. Okeymow was then charged with manslaughter and several other crimes.

The families of the slain officers were in court Monday, watching the proceedings.

The trial will continue Tuesday with Crown witnesses.