‘I’ve had so much love:’ Policeman’s widow talks of healing one year after death

EDMONTON – In the year since her husband was killed in the line of duty, Claire Woodall has focused on being strong for her two young sons and on helping them understand why he died.

Only recently, she says, has she started dealing with the police officer’s death.

“It’s a terrible thing that happened and I need to try and work on it and figure it out myself,” the 33-year-old widow said at a news conference Monday.

Const. Daniel Woodall was shot last June 8 while trying to serve an arrest warrant on Norman Raddatz, a refrigerator repairman under investigation for anti-Semitic bullying. Raddatz, who was 42, had railed online about police, courts and paying taxes.

When officers showed up at his home in Edmonton, bullets started flying through the front door. Woodall, 35, was killed and a second officer was wounded.

Soon after, the house went up in flames. Police later found Raddatz’s body inside and said he had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The case remains under investigation and Woodall still has questions she wants answered.

She doesn’t hate the man who killed her husband, she said, because he’s dead too.

But her oldest son, seven-year-old Gabe, is angry and misses his father. Five-year-old Callen is trying to understand it all.

“They often say they want to visit him in heaven,” Woodall said.

She has explained to them that they can’t right now, that they have long lives to live.

She has told them their dad died being a good guy.

“Daddy was trying to keep us safe and unfortunately the bad guy got to him. And he decided it was better to go up to heaven than to stay on Earth because he would have been really hurt.”

Daniel Woodall joined the Edmonton force in 2007 after starting his policing career with the Greater Manchester Police in England.

His wife thought she’d always move back to be with family if anything every happened to him.

But after thousands of people wore blue ribbons and lined the streets for his funeral, she said she realized she couldn’t leave Edmonton.

“I’ve had so much love,” she said. “This city has just supported me in such a way I cannot put into words. It was clear, instantly, I don’t need to go anywhere.

“I’m home.”

The support has continued, she said.

Some Edmonton officers recently ran a marathon in New York in Woodall’s honour. A brewery crafted a memorial beer in his memory.

On Wednesday, a park on the city’s south side will officially be dedicated in the officer’s name.

People have also donated enough money so the family no longer has to live paycheque to paycheque, said Woodall. She has been able to quit her job as a receptionist at a radio station. She and the boys have moved into a bigger house in a new neighbourhood. And the children will have their university paid for.

A few days ago, Woodall said, a woman recognized her in a restaurant. The woman told her, “I’ve been thinking about you. Please know that you’re in our thoughts.”

“It’s still in their minds,” said Woodall, her eyes welling with tears.

“It’s wonderful.”