Alain Bellefeuille
told the court Wednesday that his rifle may have landed on the chest of Sgt. Eric Mueller as the OPP officer lay critically wounded. He also acknowledged removing the officer’s body-worn camera and throwing it over a neighbour’s fence.
In the aftermath of the deadly shooting,
Mueller lay bleeding heavily
on the floor of Bellefeuille’s home in Bourget, Ont. The accused said he placed his firearm near Mueller so responding police would see it right away, but testified it “may have ended up on him” and that it was “a possibility” the weapon fell across the chest of the dying man.
Crown prosecutor François Dulude asked whether the gun could have landed diagonally across Mueller’s body. “I don’t know,” Bellefeuille said in French.
“You were trying to make it seem like it was his firearm?” Dulude asked. “No,” said Bellefeuille, who maintained he was acting in shock, not malice.
The exchange came during the third and final day of cross-examination, as Bellefeuille continued to describe himself as overwhelmed in the moments after the
fatal wellness check
on May 11, 2023.
Bellefeuille testified that before paramedics arrived, he tried to disarm Sgt. Mueller, whose gun was holstered, and removed the officer’s body-worn camera, which he kept in his pocket as first responders approached.
Dulude suggested Bellefeuille was trying to make it appear as though Mueller had drawn his weapon. “That’s not what I was doing,” Bellefeuille said.
The Crown played footage of Bellefeuille pacing on the porch while holding the body camera. “I had a million thoughts in my head,” Bellefeuille said, repeating a phrase he has used repeatedly on the stand to explain gaps in memory, delayed decisions and moments of apparent inaction.
“Among those million thoughts,” Dulude asked, “wasn’t there one about the body camera in your pocket?” The Crown suggested Bellefeuille knowingly kept the device on him until he could discard it.
“No,” Bellefeuille replied.
Earlier in the recording, Bellefeuille is heard telling paramedics, “I’m going to get my dog.” But Dulude pointed out that once inside, Bellefeuille never called the dog’s name, and used the opportunity to throw the camera over a neighbour’s fence.
“You weren’t looking after your dog. You were looking after yourself,” said Dulude.
The prosecutor suggested Bellefeuille had been aware paramedics were arriving and was already thinking about concealing evidence. “You weren’t happy to see them because you had more to hide, right?” he asked. Dulude also implied Bellefeuille was scoping out the situation before re-entering the house. “You asked the paramedics if there were any police around, because you knew exactly what you were going to do,” Dulude said.
“I didn’t want it on me,” Bellefeuille said, referring to the camera.
When asked why, he said, “I don’t know.”
As for why he didn’t help paramedics or tend to Mueller, Bellefeuille said, “They told me to stay in place and move away from Sgt. Mueller… If they had said they needed help, I would have helped.”
The Crown seized on Bellefeuille’s use of “brother” to cast doubt on whether he was truly in shock.
During his arrest, he was recorded saying, “Shoot me, brother. Shoot me.” On the stand, Bellefeuille told the jury it was said in the moment he realized he had possibly killed a police officer.
“That weighed on me,” he said. “It’s just something that came out.”
He testified that a
gun had been pointed at his head
and that he wasn’t thinking clearly. “We’re all brothers and sisters as humans,” he said. “It’s just a way people talk. I wasn’t thinking about the words I was saying.”
Dulude used the casual phrasing to bring up another example. “Like chum?” he asked.
“Chum, bud, bro. Perfect examples,” Bellefeuille replied.
The phrase “Excuse me, chum. Not your house. You didn’t have the right” was captured on police body-worn camera shortly after the shooting, as Bellefeuille stood over Sgt. Mueller. He told the court in earlier testimony that he had been speaking aloud to himself, not addressing the officer.
“You don’t call me that,” said Dulude.
“In this situation, no,” said Bellefeuille. “But if I saw you on the street, maybe.”
Dulude rejected Bellefeuille’s claim that he had been panicked and confused in the moments leading up to the shooting. The prosecutor argued the accused was already angry earlier that night, citing the defendant’s admission of slamming doors. He said that anger escalated when police arrived and was directed at the officers who came to his door.
“I never wanted to kill anyone,” said Bellefeuille.
“You didn’t want to kill anyone,” said Dulude, “but you shot 17 rounds.”
Bellefeuille has no prior criminal record. He is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.
Closing arguments begin on May 20.
