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Dawn broke on the farm just after 7, lighting a prairie spring of snow and ice and mud, the Quonset’s curves of corrugated steel. He was hidden behind a white plastic drum amid the stolen truck parts and farm junk, the smell of green marijuana heavy in the air.

He was small but strong, with deep-set eyes and a tight, thin mouth, a bulky figure under several layers of clothes. He carried an assault rifle with a 9-millimetre pistol tucked into the waistband of his pants and had a Winchester rifle nearby.

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There had been a feeling of tension at the property overnight but as the darkness dissipated, the mood lightened.

RCMP constables Peter Schiemann and Brock Myrol arrived around 9:30 a.m., joining constables Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston in the farmyard. Two officers from the auto theft unit pulled up the long driveway not long after.

While the auto theft officers got into their coveralls and readied their equipment, the others headed toward the Quonset’s open doors. Four men — Constables Gordon, Johnston, Schiemann and Myrol — walked together from sunlight into darkness.