On May 11th the co-worker of an RCMP officer charged with first degree murder in the death of a 26 year old man called a co-worker and made some disturbing comments that he had killed someone. This, from the Inspector in charge of the Prince Albert Police Service Investigations Division, as the investigation continues into the death of Braden Herman on that same night.

Craig Mushka says long serving RCMP member, Bernie Herman, arrived at the co-worker’s home north of Prince Albert and the RCMP were called. Herman provided information as to where police could find Braden Herman’s body, and he was taken into custody without incident.  When it was realized Herman’s body was within city limits, the Prince Albert Police Service was alerted and took over responsibility of the investigation. Police believe Braden Herman was shot, but the weapon hasn’t been confirmed, however the Police Service has seized the RCMP officer’s service pistol and other use-of-force equipment.

Mushka says the two are not related, but they are associated to the same northern community and have known each other for several years. The investigation will include looking into the nature of the relationship and the possible motivation for the offence. Mushka says there is a history of the two in their police records, with investigations that have involved both of them, but he says it’s too early to say whether any are related to harassment where the police officer was the accused.

He adds that although Herman wasn’t on duty at the time of the death, he was wearing his uniform when he left work at 5 pm that day, and police believe he was wearing it at the time of the 26 year old’s death. Bernie Herman is back in court on May 26th.