Warning: This story contains graphic and disturbing details that may be unsettling to some readers. Read MoreThe haunting video was played last week at the first-degree murder trial of Alain Bellefeuille.
The haunting video was played last week at the first-degree murder trial of Alain Bellefeuille.
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Warning: This story contains graphic and disturbing details that may be unsettling to some readers.
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The final, horrifying scenes of OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller’s life were captured on the officer’s bodycam before and after he was gunned down in a wellness check turned deadly.
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The haunting video was played last week at the first-degree murder trial of Alain Bellefeuille. He’s on trial in L’Orignal for the deadly events on the morning of May 11, 2023, in the normally quiet village of Bourget, some 50 kilometres from downtown Ottawa.
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The video, released as a court exhibit, shows the killer leaning in close, over the dying officer, saying: “You f—ed with the wrong motherf—er … you f–ed with the wrong motherf—er, should have never broke into my house, sorry about that.”
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The Evening Citizen
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That he killed Mueller and shot constables Marc Lauzon and, later, François Gamache-Asselin is not in question, nor contested. Bellefeuille thought it was a home invasion, and fired blindly through the walls of his bedroom at the shadowy figures with flashlights and one with a pistol drawn, the jury heard. Bellefeuille started shooting seconds after police entered his unlocked front door. The jury heard he was asleep when police came calling on the doomed wellness check.
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The police theory, adopted by prosecutors, is that it was an ambush, with Bellefeuille lying in wait to kill police.
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Mueller’s bodycam video, filed as a court exhibit, kicks in around 2:29 a.m. with the officer meeting up with Const. Lauzon outside Bellefeuille’s bungalow.
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The early-morning wellness check was set in motion after the next-door neighbour called 911 saying they thought Bellefeuille may have shot himself. They also said they thought they heard a gunshot.
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The bodycam is on Mueller’s police vest so while you hear him, you can’t see him, but you can see most everything in front of him with a wide, chest-high view.
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On the video you see Lauzon and you hear the two officers speaking in French. Lauzon, the first on the scene, had already gone over to the see the neighbour and was outside Bellefeuille’s home when Mueller arrived.
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Mueller asks his fellow officer if the potential suicide victim lives alone. Lauzon says all alone.
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Lauzon briefs Mueller, saying Bellefeuille has no criminal record and has lived at the rented bungalow for four years. Lauzon also told his sergeant that Bellefeuille was sad because he had to move because of development.
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The video shows the officers first approaching the front deck with flashlights out. They don’t knock or announce police presence. Mueller tells the constable to cover the front door and says he’s going to do a perimeter check.