Wearing a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar and a black blazer with no tie, Alain Bellefeuille took the witness stand for the first time, nearly two years to the day since he shot three Ontario Provincial Police officers during a wellness check turned deadly at his home in Bourget, Ont. Read MoreIn emotional testimony, Bellefeuille described waking to strange noises, crouching by his bed with a loaded weapon and realizing too late the people entering his house were police.
In emotional testimony, Bellefeuille described waking to strange noises, crouching by his bed with a loaded weapon and realizing too late the people entering his house were police.
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Wearing a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar and a black blazer with no tie, Alain Bellefeuille took the witness stand for the first time, nearly two years to the day since he shot three Ontario Provincial Police officers during a wellness check turned deadly at his home in Bourget, Ont.
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His voice was subdued, sometimes shaky, as he described crouching beside his bed with a loaded SKS semi-automatic rifle and opening fire on what he said he thought were intruders. Tears flowed when he recounted the moment he found a gravely injured Sgt. Eric Mueller, who later died.
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“My heart was pounding in my ears,” Bellefeuille told the jury in French. “I was in a panic.”
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The Evening Citizen
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Bellefeuille said he awoke around 2:30 a.m. to unfamiliar noise on May 11, 2023. He lived alone with his dog and had long feared a break-in. “I realized someone was in the house in the middle of the night, (and thought) there was a chance I might die,” he told the jury.
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He recalled a home invasion 16 years earlier in which friends were tied to chairs and beaten at gunpoint. “That made me think a lot … that it could possibly happen (to me), especially living in the countryside, where I was.” He’d also been robbed in the past, including vehicle thefts and a break-in at his former home in Gatineau.
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Bellefeuille kept a firearm in the bedroom. His wallet, often holding large amounts of cash, was hidden. “It could be anywhere in the house,” he said. Police later found $10,000 concealed under the bathroom sink.
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The court heard that Bellefeuille is Algonquin, with status through the Alliance Autochtone du Québec. Bellefeuille said he discovered his status in his mid-twenties and grew up cut off from that part of his identity. “It’s not uncommon for our traditions to get lost over time,” he said. While incarcerated, he took part in smudging ceremonies and healing circles.
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On May 10, the day before the shooting, Bellefeuille said he worked a shift on a construction site, ran errands and dropped off flooring at a trailer he had parked on a friend’s lot. Around 8:30 p.m., he had one or two cans of Jack Daniels and Coca-Cola with a friend near his home. He continued drinking alone afterward, estimating he consumed about 10 cans in total while listening to music and walking his dog.
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He told investigators he felt about “seven out of ten” intoxicated, a number he confirmed in court, before going to bed just after midnight. On the stand, he said any inebriation had worn off by the time he shot his rifle.
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The firearm, bought legally around 2012, was stored at the foot of his bed. When asked what he had to do to ready it for firing, he replied, “Absolutely nothing. There was a round in the chamber. The magazine was already in the magwell, and the safety was off.” He had modified the magazine to hold about 20 rounds, well above the legal limit of five, because he didn’t want to waste time reloading in an emergency.
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