An RCMP officer testified Wednesday about rushing to respond to shots being fired in Moncton's north end on June 4, 2014, only to find herself under fire during Justin Bourque's deadly shooting spree.
Const. Martine Benoît said she tried to call in that her shot-up vehicle's "engine was gone" and she was pinned down, but wasn't sure if the transmission was heard.
"It was a chaos situation," she told the Moncton courtroom on Day 12 of the RCMP's labour code trial in connection with the shooting deaths of three officers that night and the wounding of two others.
The national police force is charged with violating four provisions of the Canada Labour Code by allegedly failing to provide members with appropriate use-of-force equipment and related training for responding to an active threat or active shooting event, and failing to ensure the health and safety of every person employed by the force.
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Benoît said the initial call was about an armed man dressed in camouflage walking the streets of the residential neighbourhood. Then she heard over the police radio that shots had been fired.
"When I heard that, I stopped what I was doing," she said.
Benoît didn't know if anyone had been shot, but she said she heard an ambulance being called and assumed someone was injured.
Const. Douglas James Larche, 40, from Saint John, Const. Dave Joseph Ross, 32, from Victoriaville, Que., and Const. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, 45, from Boulogne-Billancourt, France, left to right, were killed in Moncton by Justin Bourque. (Canadian Press)
She headed to the scene at Hildegard Drive and Mailhot Avenue with her cruiser lights and siren on, when a man waved her down to say the suspect went into the woods.
Benoît recalled sitting in her cruiser with her hand on the door as she considered what to do. She decided to wait for backup, she said. That's when the hail of bullets started.
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"The shots were coming from the front of my vehicle," she said. "I could see smoke."
She tried to put her vehicle in reverse, but it wouldn't move.
Benoît didn't know how many shots were fired. It sounded like a lot, she said.
Const. Eric Dubois responded to her radio call for help and drove up behind her. They both got out of their vehicles and took cover behind Dubois' vehicle, guns drawn, she said.
Dubois was injured.
"I saw blood coming from his arm," she said.
He told her Const. Fabrice Gevaudan was dead.
RCMP Cpl. Darlene Goguen survived being shot in the head by Justin Bourque on June 4, 2014. (RCMP)
Earlier this week, the trial heard dramatic testimony from other Mounties who responded to the call, including Cpl. Darlene Goguen, who was shot by Bourque but survived.
Goguen described the horror of being shot in the back of the head. She said it felt like "hot hot metal" on her skin where the bullet had punctured and blood was running down her neck.
She was too scared to touch the wound, not knowing what she'd find, she said crying.
Goguen, who also suffered injuries to her shoulder and had a bullet lodged in her vest, said she drove herself away from the scene, not wanting to endanger her fellow officers who had offered over the police radio to come help her.
She also called her sister — just in case it was her last chance to talk to her family, she said.
The RCMP is charged with four health and safety violations under the Canada Labour Code, each of which carries a possible fine of $1 million. The charges are:
- Failing to provide RCMP members with appropriate use-of-force equipment and related user training when responding to an active threat or an active shooter event.
- Failing to provide RCMP members with appropriate information, instruction and/or training to ensure their health and safety when responding to an active threat or active shooter event in an open environment.
- Failing to provide RCMP supervisory personnel with appropriate information, instruction and/or training to ensure the health and safety of RCMP members when responding to an active threat or active shooter event in an open environment.
- Failing to ensure the health and safety at work of every person employed by it, namely RCMP members, was protected.
