VICTIM SURVIVED SHOOTING

Roger's life nearly ended when he was shot seven times - five times in the
head - in a vicious attack on Clayburn Road Nov. 7. In hindsight, he wishes
it had.

Roger's common-law wife, 40-year-old Laura McCormick, was killed during the
raid on their home early that morning - an attack Roger says was carried out
by three men wearing balaclavas and bulletproof vests and screaming, "RCMP,
RCMP."

"My whole life was taken away from me," said Roger, 41, on Thursday. "If I'd
have known she was dead, I'd of climbed up on the bed and bled it out with
her. At the time you don't think of anything else but your loved ones. Every
time I think about it now I break down crying."

Aside from the emotional strain of losing McCormick, Roger is physically no
longer capable of functioning properly. He's been through 12 operations, is
blind in one eye, is deaf in one ear, has a large chunk of his jaw missing
and has bullet fragments and lead throughout his face and head.

"My head looks like a beanbag," he said. "I've got bullet fragments
everywhere. I'm a mess buddy."

"If you see me you wouldn't believe I made it through it," he added. "The
only reason I did live was because I thought she was alive too, to save
her."

Roger says the attack occurred just before 1 a.m. when the suspects broke in
through the front door of the home he and McCormick were renting at 34416
Clayburn Rd. He said they shot him five times before shooting his young dog
dead and shooting McCormick twice in the stomach.

"I said, 'Are you all right?' " said Roger. "She said, 'I don't know.' I
said, 'Hang on baby, we'll be all right.' "

The suspects then shot him in the left ear "and I went to sleep."

Roger says he was later told the suspects then put a pillow over McCormick's
face and shot her twice in the forehead before shooting him again.

"Whoever the people were they came in to kill us," he said. "I don't know
who they were."

Roger admits the suspects invaded the home looking for marijuana, but says
he and McCormick just had a personal stash.

"They had bad information," he said. "We were trying to get ourselves a
normal life is what we were doing. Nothing to warrant what happened to us.
We were a quiet couple. Nobody deserved that."

Abbotsford police Const. Shinder Kirk wouldn't confirm any details
surrounding the incident.

"I can't . . . because it may impact on the investigation," he said.

However, Carol McCormick, Laura's mother, says it's important for people to
know the circumstances around the shooting.

"If people knew there were people going around shooting them in the head to
get marijuana maybe there wouldn't be so many growers," she said. "Maybe the
people who are growing will get scared."

"This is not typical," she added. "Shootings in Abbotsford seem to be a way
of life. That should be a concern."