A photo of Michelle Shegelski in her wedding dress sits on a table at her funeral in Edmonton Alberta on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Michelle Shegelski was one of three people shot and killed in an armoured car robbery at the University of Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
June 26, 2012 - 4:37 PM
EDMONTON - One of three armoured car guards shot and killed during a robbery is being laid to rest in the dress she was married in just two months ago.
The family of Michelle Shegelski told mourners at her funeral Tuesday that they chose the dress because her wedding day was the happiest day of her life.
Shegelski had designed the dress herself for a Victorian-style wedding at Fort Edmonton Park and joked that she'd never have another chance to wear it.
Her loved ones described the 26-year-old woman they fondly called "Mic" as a strong, courageous woman with a quirky sense of humour.
They said she was always making funny faces and often tugged at her hair, which she called the "pull start" for her brain.
And she was a passionate reader, who would have several books on the go at a time.
Shegelski was gunned down with two other armed guards while they were restocking a bank machine at the University of Alberta on June 15. A fourth guard was shot in the head but is recovering in hospital.
Another guard who was on the crew has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and robbery. Travis Baumgartner was arrested a day after the heist as he tried to cross the Canada-U.S. border with $330,000 in a backpack.
Shegelski's funeral program quoted some of her blog entries. In one, she wrote about hurrying to work for her night shift:
"I suffer through the old runoff, moving down the dimly lit stairway to receive a briefing from the last shift. They're tired and want to go home. Hell, we all do. 'The password's changed. Don't forget.' I study it carefully before crumbling it into illegibility.
"Security. It's what we do."
Shegelski and her crewmates worked for security company G4S Canada. Many G4S employees were at the funeral.
About 500 people attended a private memorial service in Edmonton on Sunday for all three victims.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012