Alain Bellefeuille guilty of murder, attempted murder of police

Kristy Nease · CBC News

· Posted: May 24, 2025 10:14 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The antheral accused of first-degree murder and attempted execution successful the shooting of 3 Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers during a wellness cheque astatine his eastbound Ontario home has been recovered blameworthy connected each counts.

It was an admitted information successful the lawsuit that Alain Bellefeuille killed Sgt. Eric Mueller and injured constables Mark Lauzon and François Gamache-Asselin when helium opened occurrence connected them successful the aboriginal greeting hours of May 11, 2023.

The officers had been dispatched to his rented rural house in Bourget, Ont., eastbound of Ottawa, aft a neighbour called 911 and reported hearing loud noises including shouting and gunfire, followed by silence.

At contented during the proceedings was whether Bellefeuille knew the radical entering his location were police, and what his intentions were erstwhile helium repeatedly fired his rifle over respective minutes.

Crucial grounds successful the lawsuit — for the Crown and the defence — came from the body-worn cameras of Mueller, Gamache-Asselin and different officers who arrived aft the shots were fired, including then Const. Ionut "John" Mihuta, who arrested Bellefeuille. That footage tin beryllium seen successful the pursuing stories:

Bellefeuille had pleaded not blameworthy successful March erstwhile his bilingual proceedings began successful Superior Court successful L'Orignal, Ont. — the oldest courthouse successful Ontario.

Day aft day, Mueller's family, dressed successful black, and a ample assemblage of supporters and colleagues of the victims filled the woody benches connected the Crown's broadside of the courtroom gallery.

Lauzon, who suffered life-altering injuries and has not returned to work, attended astir days, and his predominant smiles and laughter during breaks stood retired successful a oversea of sombre faces. Gamache-Asselin, who suffered a insignificant genu laceration and is backmost astatine work, occasionally attended.

The defence broadside of the country down the prisoner's box filled up astatine cardinal moments, specified arsenic on the archetypal time of Bellefeuille's grounds earlier this month, but connected astir days the proceedings were attended by his sister, parent and aunt.

Security was tight. Two cruisers brought Bellefeuille to the small courthouse each day, with a squad of peculiar constables accompanying him through the aforesaid fewer entrances and hallways utilized by the public, jury, justice and lawyers. Two officers guarded the doorway wrong the courtroom, and tactical officers were stationed extracurricular the courthouse.

Bellefeuille took the basal successful his ain defence. He testified he'd been dormant and was woken by his barking dog, flashing lights and banging extracurricular his rented agrarian home. He said helium instantly believed idiosyncratic was trying to interruption in, and that he'd been acrophobic of specified an onslaught ever since friends of his suffered a convulsive location penetration years earlier.

Bellefeuille's defence lawyer Leo Russomanno urged the assemblage to see the events from Bellefeuille's perspective, stressing that it each happened implicit the span of conscionable 4 minutes — from the clip constabulary arrived to the clip his lawsuit called 911 to study that he'd changeable an officer.

In the Crown's closing submissions, Tansey called Bellefeuille's actions that night "devastating, calculated and precise."

Bellefeuille fired 4 abstracted volleys from his high-powered SKS rifle, which was equipped with an illegally modified mag that could clasp 22 rounds alternatively of the 5 allowed.

He besides removed Mueller's body-worn camera, hid it successful his pocket, and later threw it into his neighbour's yard.

The Crown argued that wasn't the behaviour of idiosyncratic acting successful self-defence, but alternatively of idiosyncratic who had committed a "cold and calculated killing."

Two of the archetypal 14 jurors were dismissed during the trial: 1 after the foreperson complained of bullying behaviour by different juror, and the different to sphere nationalist assurance successful the justness strategy aft a juror who was moving precocious got a thrust to the courthouse with an OPP officer.