ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A number of Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers are back at the Craigmillar Avenue residence outside which a man was killed last summer, after shots were allegedly fired again early Friday morning.
Police officers have closed a section of Craigmillar Avenue between Ryan Street and Old Topsail Road to traffic while they investigate. At 10 a.m. officers were taking photos on the front steps of the home at 40 Craigmillar and while an RNC forensics unit vehicle is parked outside.
Police have not yet responded to The Telegram's request for information. They have not issued a public safety advisory in connection nor have they asked neighbourhood residents to shelter in place.
Sources say a vehicle drove slowly down the snowy street in the early morning hours and multiple gunshots were fired at the residence before it drove away. It’s not believed anyone was at home at the time.
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Early in the morning on July 5, RNC officers responded to a report of shots fired in the same area and arrived to find the body of 47-year-old Jamie Cody in the street outside 40 Craigmillar. His red Jeep Cherokee, the driver’s side door open, was nearby.
Police secured the perimeter of the scene and determine no one was inside the home. They have not yet made any arrests in connection with the homicide but have said they believe Cody knew his killer. The RNC told reporters at the time that they had identified suspects and put “precautionary measures” in place to ensure the public was not at risk.
Investigators searched the Craigmillar Avenue home and went to court last October to get an extension on their seizure of items from the address, including a CCTV system, bullet casings, multiple mobile phones and other items. A handgun was located on a property nearby.
During their search, RNC officers discovered items they turned over to the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit, which opened a separate money laundering and proceeds of crime investigation focused on the homeowner, 43-year-old Kurt Churchill.
The Mounties also went to Provincial Court last fall to ask permission to hold onto things seized from Churchill’s home, providing a long and detailed list: more than $434,000 in cash, a money counter, a vacuum sealer and sealable storage bags, financial documents from various banks, tax documents, receipts, four mobile phones, a computer and 2.1 grams of cocaine.
Police have not charged Churchill, who is believed to currently be out of the province, with any crime at this point, nor have they publicly named him or anyone else as a homicide suspect.
Churchill, who has no criminal record, was found guilty in September of threatening a police officer during an incident in downtown St. John’s in 2019 in which he was detained for public intoxication. He was given a conditional discharge and ordered to submit a DNA sample to a national police database — an order that was stayed 10 days later when his lawyer successfully argued it halted pending his appeal of the threats verdict. The Crown has since appealed the stay.
Churchill was arrested in 2014 and charged in connection with a police investigation into cocaine trafficking in the St. John’s area, but the charges were later dismissed after his lawyer argued unreasonable trial delays.