Police shooting victim was very drunk, inquest told

A burglary suspect shot and killed by the RCMP in northern B.C. in 2004 was "100 per cent hammered" at the time of his death, his former common-law spouse told a coroner's jury on Tuesday.

Kevin St. Arnaud, 29, was shot three times while being chased by police on Dec. 19, 2004, in Vanderhoof, about 100 kilometres west of Prince George.

Rebecca Gingera, who lived with St. Arnaud, said he had drunk an "obscene amount" of tequila and vodka while having pre-Christmas drinks at a local bar with his co-workers that night.

She wept as she described three messages left on her answering machine that night, messages that made it sound as if St. Arnaud was breaking up with her.

A lawyer representing the RCMP at the inquestthen suggested that St. Arnaud made those calls during a break-in at a Vanderhoof pharmacy.

To which Gingera responded: "That's fine if he was inside the pharmacy. That doesn't justify him being shot and killed."

The inquest also heard testimony Tuesday from a man who got into a bar fight with St. Arnaud the night of the shooting, and from a passenger who got off a late-night Greyhound bus.

Sylvia Isaac described hearing swearing, and what soundedlike someone getting kicked. Then she said she heard someone shout, "Stop, stop get back here,"followed by three loud pops.

In February 2006, the Crown decided not to lay charges against the Mountie who fired the fatal shots.

The RCMP has said the constable felt threatened, and, when the suspect stopped and turned on him, he shot him. St. Arnaud was not armed.

The officer had been with the RCMP for two years at the time, and remains on active duty.