OPP shootings in Bourget: Here’s what we know — and don’t | CBC News

Cindy Mondello of Russell, Ont., is among those who have left behind flowers at the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Russell County detachment in Embrun.

Mondello didn’t know Sgt. Eric Mueller, but she cried when she heard the 42-year-old veteran officer died in an altercation with a man in nearby Bourget early Thursday morning.

Two of Mueller’s detachment colleagues were also wounded in the shooting but survived, with one remaining in hospital for treatment on Friday and the other healing at home, according to the OPP.

“It’s just senseless,” Mondello said early Friday afternoon in front of the detachment.

“We’re very, very upset about what happened and our officers do need our support.”

Beigy Rethish and Rethish Idicheria co-own a pharmacy in Embrun and knew Mueller as a happy, cheerful, down-to-earth customer with the body language of a gentleman, Idicheria said.

The officers were called to action and served as heroes, “but at the same time, the community wants to know more about [the incident],” Idicheria said. “Why? What happened?”

Idicheria is also looking for more details about Alain Bellefeuille, the man charged with first-degree murder in Mueller’s death.

Court records and statements made by the OPP have offered some insight into what happened, but questions remain.

Here’s what we know — and what we don’t.

Neighbour had heard accused shooting guns

Some time after 2 a.m. Thursday, the OPP’s provincial communications centre got a call about a shot fired on Laval Street in Bourget, a village within the city of Clarence-Rockland, located about 50 kilometres east of Ottawa.

The gunfire allegedly came from the home of Bellefeuille, a 39-year-old whose address is on that street, according to court records.

“That’s the kind of call where one single officer will not attend [alone],” OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson told CBC Ottawa News host Rachelle Elsiufi.

One of Bellefeuille’s neighbours — whom CBC has agreed not to name because she fears for her safety — said she had previously heard Bellefeuille shooting guns.

“But that’s nothing out of the ordinary out here,” she added.

Silent radios ‘the worst feeling,’ officer says

Mueller and two other officers, Marc Lauzon and Francois Gamache-Asselin, were dispatched to the area, arriving about 10 to 15 minutes after police received the call, Dickson said.

“They didn’t approach the door together. They did what they are trained to do,” he said.

They also called for backup, for reasons that remain unclear.

“And then the officers stopped responding to their radio calls,” Dickson said, adding that, for the dispatcher monitoring them over the radio, “that’s got to be the worst feeling.”

All three officers were shot by Bellefeuille “within minutes” of their arrival, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said in a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

‘Big hole’ in police narrative

Some unspecified amount of time later, more officers arrived, found Mueller, Lauzon and Gamache-Asselin wounded, and were able to arrest Bellefeuille “without incident,” Dickson said.

Michael Smith, a criminal defence lawyer in Ottawa who isn’t involved in the case, said what happened between the time the officers were shot and the time their backup arrested Bellefeuille is “a big hole” in the narrative.

“The contrast — shooting at these officers and then being cooperative — there’s quite a bit there that needs to be explained, right?” Smith said.

All three officers were taken to hospital. Mueller died from his injuries.

A police motorcade took his body from The Ottawa Hospital Civic campus to the coroner’s office at The Ottawa Hospital General campus on Friday morning.

Bellefeuille was not injured when taken into custody, Carrique said. That’s why the Special Investigation Unit, Ontario’s police watchdog, is not investigating the incident.

“As you can imagine, our officers are highly trained, and they were able to rely upon their training to safely apprehend the accused,” Carrique said.

A long gun was found at the scene, but whether it was the weapon used to wound the officers has yet to be determined, Carrique said.

CBC has asked the OPP what precautions all officers took when dealing with Bellefeuille that day and whether the long gun was lawfully owned.

Lawyer questions police wording

During Carrique’s Thursday afternoon news conference, he described the altercation as an ambush and Mueller’s death as a murder.

Hours later, the OPP released a statement confirming Bellefeuille’s identity and his charges: one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Lawrence Greenspon, another Ottawa criminal attorney, said he wasn’t surprised by Carrique’s language but still found it prejudicial against Bellefeuille.

“I recognize fully that the public and especially the police are very concerned when one of their own is killed,” said Greenspon, who isn’t involved in the case. 

“[But] whether they have a wealth of information about what happened or they don’t, to characterize what took place as an ambush at this early stage, who does it serve?… It is a disservice certainly to the person who’s presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Accused back in court next week

Bellefeuille was not someone the OPP had been dealing with “repeatedly for years,” Carrique said.

During his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon, Bellefeuille, through a legal aid lawyer, said he hadn’t slept since the incident and didn’t want to answer any more questions until he’d gotten some rest.

Bellefeuille appeared over Zoom from the OPP detachment in Kanata but is likely to be moved to Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre before his next court appearance on May 18, his current lawyer John Hale said on Friday. 

He’ll remain in custody at least until the outcome of his bail hearing.

Bellefeuille’s neighbour said she knew him for about a year and that he seemed an average, friendly guy who’d come around her place to retrieve his dog.

Learning he’s charged with the death of a police officer was terrifying, she said.

“Makes we want to move,” she added.

‘Not just a police officer. They’re a human being’

A police funeral will be held at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata on Thursday, May 18, 2023. Details to be announced once they have been finalized.

The City of Clarence-Rockland called Mueller a highly respected member of the OPP.

On Saturday, residents can visit either the Bourget Community Centre or the city hall building in Rockland to fill books of condolence from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The books will be donated to the OPP.

“Just because someone is a police officer doesn’t mean they’re disposable or dispensable,” Dickson said. “They are not just a police officer. They’re a human being.”