Raymond muttered in ambulance that killings not his fault, was provoked: witness

FREDERICTON — The accused Fredericton mass shooter said the deaths of four people in 2018 were not his fault, according to a paramedic student who accompanied the alleged killer to the hospital on the morning of the shootings.

Ceilidh Bowen, who is now a medical technician with the Canadian Armed Forces, told jurors Wednesday accused killer Matthew Raymond was loaded into an ambulance on Aug. 10, 2018, and appeared to have three broken ribs and three gunshot wounds in his abdomen.

Bowen said she heard Raymond mutter that people had been outside his window. “‘They were taunting me. It’s not my fault, they made me do it,’ he said,” she told Raymond’s first-degree murder trial.

Raymond faces four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Fredericton Police constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns as well as civilians Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright.

On Sept. 15 when the trial opened, lawyers for Raymond acknowledged their client shot and killed the four people but said he is not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

Bowen told jurors she didn’t hear the accused killer say anything else during the 10-minute ride to the hospital. She said Raymond didn’t appear to be in a lot of pain.

Police had shot the suspect through a window into his apartment.

Another witness, RCMP Const. Stephane Sabourin, introduced to jurors items that were seized from Raymond’s apartment following his arrest. The items included notepads and other pieces of paper covered in numbers. One note said, “Thanks Lord for your equal 87.”

Other notes were inscribed with comments about things being moved around his apartment. “Someone or some persons were in my apartment with no notice,” one note read.

The jury also heard from Brendan Doyle, who had owned a coffee shop in downtown Fredericton that Raymond frequented in 2017. He said Raymond would often come in for coffee, look at magazines about bikes or video games, and would chat with staff.

Doyle said as time passed, however, Raymond looked at fewer bike magazines and instead took a greater interest in magazines about violent video games and about firearms.

In June 2017, Doyle said he saw Raymond in front of city hall, wearing a sandwich board that read, “No Sharia Law” — which is also known as Islamic law. Doyle said Syrian refugees had been arriving into Canada during that period.

He said when he approached Raymond, the accused suggested he watch a number of online videos. Doyle said he was concerned Raymond would express his views to other patrons of his coffee shop so he suggested Raymond go somewhere else — which he said Raymond did.

Later on Wednesday, the court heard from people who lived in the apartment complex around which the shootings occurred.

Tim Morehouse said he was in his bedroom on Aug. 10, 2018, when he heard someone shout: “Shut up! Shut up!” followed by two gunshots. Morehouse said he went to his living room and heard three more shots before he looked out the window.

“I saw Donnie lying on the ground,” Morehouse testified. “That’s when I called 911.”

Morehouse said he went to his kitchen and heard two more shots. He said he returned to the living room window where he said he saw two police officers outside on the ground and a young couple hiding behind a car.

That couple was Shawn Noble and Kendra Snodgrass.

Snodgrass told the court that on Aug. 10, 2018, she was inside her apartment and could see someone on the ground outside. She said she woke up Noble and the two went out outside to see if they could help.

Noble told the court he checked the man for a pulse, but there was none.

Snodgrass said police arrived a few minutes later. As the officers approached the bodies on ground, she said heard noises. Noble shoved her behind a car.

Both officers had been shot.

The trial continues Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2020.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press