LETHBRIDGE, Alta. –
The scars on Catherine Linder’s neck and body will be a reminder of how a normal day changed her life.
“It was a normal Thursday afternoon at the office,” she said. “I was doing paperwork and taking a few calls when she came in and wanted to speak to one of our attorneys who wasn’t there.”
Linder says that after she and their practice student said they could reach the attorney on the phone, she asked to use the restroom.
“Our summer student took her back there to do that and she came out a few minutes later with a gun pointed at us and said I have to talk to him or I’m going to kill you both,” Linder recalled.
Linder tried to make a phone call to another organization where the attorney was when she was forced into an office at gunpoint.
“She closed the door, which was going to happen for privacy reasons, but when she pushed the two chairs up to the door, my heart kind of stopped and I went, oh, that’s not good,” Linder said.
On hold there for an hour, Linder says a police negotiator called, but she was forced to hang up on him. A second call was made by the negotiator, but Linder said that didn’t change anything. She says the negotiator called a third time and Linder answered, and then her attacker pointed the gun at her and told her to get on her knees and turn around.
“The next thing I knew, she was standing in front of me pointing the gun at me,” Linder said. “She said get on your knees and turn around and I said ‘you don’t want to do that’ and she said it again so I stood up a bit straighter because I was leaning against a file cabinet and I thought are you going to hurt me , you’ll look me in the eye and you’ll do it.
Linder tried to push her away by pressing her chest. She let out a scream and then two policemen burst into the room.
“They pulled her off me and one of the officers had his arm around my neck the whole time until we got into the ambulance where the paramedics were,” she said.
She was stabbed multiple times in the neck. Covered in blood, Linder was rushed to hospital and needed 56 stitches to heal her wounds.
“I remember looking down at my thumb and seeing the cut, then looking down and seeing the blood on my shirt and all the files on the desk, but it didn’t really occur to me what happened,” Linder told CTV in an interview Friday.
Linder doesn’t remember the ambulance ride to the hospital, but says she spent eight days recovering.
Recounting the incident, Linder says that during that time in the office, she remembers praying.
“I thought, how is this going to play out? What next? Mostly just really calm, I prayed a lot because that’s how I get through any bad situation,” she explained.
BLOOD LETTING
After the hostage-taking, Linder’s best friend, Alana Wheeler, began planning a blood drive in her honor.
“Knowing that she really lost a lot of blood, it was just one of those ironies that I guess we never know what’s going to happen, and life is short and it’s such a good cause to donate blood,” Wheeler said.
Linder is an active donor, and Wheeler thinks the campaign will be a great way to raise awareness about donating blood while honoring his friend. The blood drive will be held August 9-11 at the Plasma Donation Center in Lethbridge.
As for Linder, she is expected to make a full recovery.
“Physically and mentally I will recover because I am strong,” she said. “Everyone asks me if I need anything or if I need help, the support from my family and friends is huge.”
Linder isn’t sure when she’ll be back at work, but says she’s grateful to everyone who helped her.
“Those two officers who were there first saved my life without a doubt, I have to admit my faith and God, I shouldn’t have survived that,” Linder said.
Courtney Louise Shaw has been charged with attempted murder. She remains in custody pending a Sept. 1 court date.
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