Roger Walls, famed Saskatchewan architect, refused treatment after being shot in Honduras, 71
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Sask. man shot in Honduras dies
By Janet French, Canwest News ServiceApril 8, 2009 12:02 AM
SASKATOON - A Saskatoon man shot in the neck in Honduras has died.
Roger Walls, a former architect who designed some of Saskatoon's landmark
buildings, refused further medical treatment and died Sunday, according to
his brother, Vic Walls.
"It's just the end of a sad story," Vic said from his Red Deer, Alta., home.
Walls, 71, was shot in the neck at close range Feb. 27 on the island of
Roatan in Honduras, where he had been building a home. Vic has previously
said Walls was shot by a woman who owed him money.
On March 7, Walls' family hired a Florida air ambulance company to fly him
to Saskatoon, where he was taken to Royal University Hospital's
intensive-care unit.
His brother said the bullet severed his spinal cord and he lost his fifth
and sixth vertebra. Walls needed a ventilator to breathe and would likely be
a quadriplegic for the rest of his life, Vic said.
For Walls, an adventurer, traveller, and avid sailor, that future was
"unacceptable," Vic said.
Doctors told Walls' family there was a thousand-to-one chance he would ever
regain any movement or feeling in his hands, Vic said. "He would never have
movement of his arms."
A paralyzed diaphragm made even talking an ordeal, Vic said. The man had to
puff up his lungs and exhale forcefully just to be able to speak. There was
also no guarantee Walls would be able to breathe on his own again.
Vic said he believes the criminal investigation into the shooting is now a
murder case.
He said the Department of Foreign Affairs told him Tuesday the RCMP will now
become involved in the criminal investigation.
No one from the RCMP could be reached Tuesday evening to confirm or deny the
force's involvement. Calls placed to the Department of Foreign Affairs
Tuesday afternoon were not returned.
Vic is adamant Walls' attacker should be arrested and face charges.
"Everybody on the island knows what happened," he said. "From our
standpoint, it's quite alarming."
Walls, who was born in Saskatoon, worked as an architect in the city in the
1970s and '80s after graduating from the University of Manitoba. His designs
include the Sturdy Stone building, Frances Morrison Library, the downtown
police station, and the Education Building at the University of
Saskatchewan.
The funeral is set for April 18 at the Saskatoon Funeral Home.
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