Police want to talk to author of anonymous letter linked to Dunphy shooting

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – RCMP in Newfoundland are asking for the public’s help in finding the author of an anonymous letter linked to the police shooting death of Don Dunphy.

Police say they were given the letter last week after someone had provided it to a commission looking into the death of Dunphy at his home in Mitchell’s Brook in 2015.

They offered no details about the contents of the letter, but say they want to speak to whoever wrote it.

The commission of inquiry postponed the release of a series of reports last Tuesday because it said it had received new information, which it forwarded to the RCMP.

Dunphy was shot by a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary who served on then-premier Paul Davis’s security detail.

Const. Joe Smyth went alone in plain clothes in an unmarked SUV to Dunphy’s home after staff in the former premier’s office alerted police about allegedly threatening comments made by Dunphy on social media.

A retired judge who reviewed the RCMP’s subsequent investigation concluded the officer fired four shots, including one to Dunphy’s head from about one metre away.