Prison officials say that Martin Pinkus, 47, convicted in the 1999 killing of a Gloucester gas bar attendant during a robbery attempt was found dead in his cell Wednesday.
Correctional Services Canada said prison workers at the medium-security Drumheller Institution in Alberta found Pinkus alone in his cell, began performing CPR and emergency services were called. Pinkus was taken to the Drumheller Health Centre where he was pronounced dead at 12:04 p.m.
An investigation into the cause of death is underway. Police will not say whether the death seems suspicious.
Pinkus was eligible for parole this year.
In December, 1999, Pinkus was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence for second-degree murder for his role in the August 1995 slaying of a Gloucester gas bar attendant on the night of Aug. 24, when Pinkus and an associate tried to rob the gas bar’s owner of drugs and money.
The attendant was shot in the back after he complied with orders to lie down in the parking lot.
At the time assistant Crown attorney Mark Moors called Pinkus’ crime “an unprovoked and cowardly killing.”
The attendant “was a completely defenceless victim. He posed absolutely no threat to Pinkus,” said Moors, who prosecuted Pinkus with then Ottawa Crown attorney Andrejs Berzins.
Pinkus was imprisoned for manslaughter in February 1989, after he shot a 31-year-old man named Dale Roth to death in a Wakefield cabin and dumped his body in the Gatineau River. Pinkus received a six-year prison sentence for that crime.
His criminal record also includes convictions in the mid-1980s for armed robbery and break-and-enter. At 17, he and an accomplice terrorized a New Brunswick family in a home invasion to steal $42, for which he was sentenced to four years behind bars.
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