EXCLUSIVE: Calgary teacher shot while apprehending serial killer Charles Ng passes away

CALGARY — One of the two men who apprehended notorious serial killer Charles Ng has passed away.John (Sean) Patrick Doyle, a long-time Calgary teacher, artist and community volunteer, died peacefully on Dec. 12, 2025, at the AgeCare SkyPointe. He was 85 years old.Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Doyle immigrated to Canada in 1957 at the age of 18, before settling in Calgary.Doyle devoted more than five decades to education. He began teaching with the Calgary Catholic School Division in 1963 and later earned a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary in 1965, majoring in art and English.Over his career, he taught at multiple schools in Calgary, such as Ernest Manning and Bishop Carroll, where one of his students was author and political commentator Warren Kinsella, who referred to Doyle as a “great man” in a recent post on X upon hearing of his passing..Doyle — who was known for his artistic talent, teaching subjects ranging from art and English to psychology and social studies — fully retired in 2016 after 53 years as a teacher.He was also known for his volunteer work, such as volunteering at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and teaching art to seniors at numerous places such as the Retired Teachers Association and the Inglewood Silver Threads Association, among others.Doyle is survived by his three children and four grandchildren, as well as numerous other relatives.One of the defining moments of Doyle’s life occurred on July 5, 1985, when he was working part-time as a security guard at the Hudson’s Bay Company store in downtown Calgary.Doyle and fellow guard George Forster apprehended a shoplifter who was later identified as Charles Ng, a fugitive serial killer who was on the run from US authorities. .During a violent struggle between the two guards and Ng, the Hong Kong-born serial killer produced a handgun.Doyle reached for the gun, hoping to get his hands around the trigger, preventing Ng from firing.In the ensuing fight, Ng bit Doyle’s left wrist down to the bone in an effort to get him to release his hold on the gun.Unfortunately, Ng managed to get his finger on the trigger and pulled.The first shot failed to hit its mark, and Doyle managed to get on top of Ng, who had the gun firmly in his hands and was slowly pointing it towards Doyle’s chest in the struggle.“I put my left hand over the barrel, I wasn’t even thinking. And then came a ‘Bang!’ and the gun went off. I looked down and saw the black gunpowder marks on my hand, thinking, ‘He missed.’ At the same time, it felt like someone had just smashed my hand with a hammer,” Doyle reiterated to the Calgary Journal in 2016.By the time police arrived, Doyle had severe bite marks on his wrist and had been shot through the left hand, resulting in three of his fingers being permanently paralysed..He later testified at Ng’s murder trial in California, but the incident left Doyle with psychological trauma.He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said he ultimately overcame by finding strength through faith and forgiving Ng for the horrific crimes he committed.“I got out of bed, I knelt down, and I prayed for the power to forgive him, for the crimes he had committed, and like that it was over,” Doyle later said.“I was cured by the act of forgiveness. I was cured of PTSD.”Doyle also credited artwork with helping him to find serenity in his life.“I have not had an easy life, but I have had a long life. I have gone through a lot, but I have always been able to find a place to go and be at peace through my artwork,” he told the Calgary Journal.At the time of the incident, Ng, who was on America’s Most Wanted list, had fled the San Francisco area after police had arrested his accomplice, Leonard Lake.A police search of Ng and Lake’s compound near Wilseyville, California, revealed the massive scale of the pair’s crimes, as authorities unearthed roughly 45 pounds of burned human bone fragments, two videotapes documenting the torture of two of their victims, personal belongings, and a copy of the 1963 John Fowles novel The Collector, which tells the story of a man who captures a woman and keeps her as a slave.The two men were eventually linked with 11 to 25 murders.Lake ended up committing suicide soon after being taken into police custody with cyanide pills he had hidden inside his clothing.After being extradited back to California in 1992, Ng was tried and convicted of 11 out of 12 counts of first-degree murder in 1999.His prosecution cost the State of California approximately $20 million, which, at the time, was the most expensive trial in California’s history.Ng is currently on death row at the California Medical Facility.

EXCLUSIVE: Calgary teacher shot while apprehending serial killer Charles Ng passes away

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