This story contains disturbing details
The neighbour of a man accused of killing an Ontario Provincial Police officer told the jury at Alain Bellefeuille’s murder trial Tuesday that he was in shock at what unfolded at the house next door in the early morning hours on May 11, 2023.
André Cousineau said he was awakened in the middle of the night at his home in Bourget to his wife at their bedroom window.
“I asked her what’s going on and she said, ‘I think Alain may have shot himself, I heard a gunshot.‘”
His wife called 911 and gave the first officer on scene Bellefeuille’s name and number. The call went unanswered. OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller arrived at the scene next.
Mueller died after being shot while responding with other officers to a call for a disturbance and a possible gunshot in the middle of the night in the town about 50 km east of downtown Ottawa. Two other officers were shot but survived.
“I remember them calling Alain’s name,” Cousineau recalled. He said the officers made noise and “tried to get Alain’s attention.”
Footage from Mueller’s body-worn camera shows officers knocking loudly. The officers entered the house and within seconds, Cousineau heard gunshots.
“One after the other, as fast as they could come out,” he said.
Cousineau testified he then saw Bellefeuille come outside, point his firearm at the police cruisers in the driveway, and fire more than one shot at them.
The defence doesn’t dispute Bellefeuille killed Mueller and injured the other officers. He’s pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.
They argue Bellefeuille thought it was a home invasion and that he was firing at intruders, not expecting police to be at his home in the middle of the night.
The Crown argues the officers were ambushed, telling the jury what Mueller’s body camera shows — the accused leaning over him as he was dying saying, “you f—ed with the wrong mother f-er…should have never broke into my house, sorry about that.”
Bellefeuille called 911 and told the arresting officer " I didn’t know it was a f—ing cop."
Bellefeuille is expected to testify during the six-week trial.
The trial is scheduled to resume tomorrow.
