Alain Magloire told police 'go ahead and shoot me,' inquest hears
Coroner's inquest into fatal police shooting of homeless Montreal man expected to last 2 weeks
Alain Magloire leapt onto the hood of an approaching police cruiser and tried to smash the windshield as an officer tried to tackle him to the ground, a constable involved in last February's fatal shooting of the homeless Montreal man told a coroner's inquest.
Const. Alex Campeau also testified Tuesday afternoon that a stun gun arrived seconds after Magloire was shot four times by police.
He told the inquest being held in Montreal that in the final seconds before the shooting, he realized it was time to put an end to the threat.
Campeau said he had his finger on the trigger of his gun as Magloire, 41, raised a hammer, but another officer fired.
An electric stun gun that Campeau and his partner, Const. Jeanne Bruneau, had called for arrived seconds later in one of the cruisers that sped to the scene. Campeau and Bruneau were the first officers to get to the scene.
Bruneau testified earlier in the day that she thought she might die that morning.
- Public inquiry into Magloire's death underway
- Magloire sought help before being shot dead by police
- No charges laid in fatal Montreal police shooting of Alain Magloire
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Bruneau was the officer heard on recordings with dispatchers during the first day of testimony on Monday.
Bruneau told the inquiry she and Campeau came across Magloire on Ontario Street in Montreal's downtown, after receiving a call from dispatchers about a man armed with a hammer walking on nearby Saint-Denis Street.
When they stopped their cruiser near Magloire, Bruneau said she yelled from the passenger seat for him to drop a hammer he was holding. She testified he swung it at her head, barely missing.
The officer said she thought Magloire was trying to kill her, and for a moment she thought she was about to die.
She told the inquest she yelled at the man several times to drop the hammer or she'd have to shoot.
Magloire replied in French saying, "Go ahead and shoot me... I don't give a f--k," according to Bruneau.
She said Magloire was shot by another officer who arrived at the scene as he was about to strike her partner with the hammer.
No charges have been laid against any of the officers involved.
Hearings to last 2 weeks
The inquest is expected to last two weeks.
Another session in March will look at social and medical assistance, and help available to people with mental-health issues.
"The role of the coroner is not to settle everything, but to put everybody on the good track and say, 'This is where you should be looking. This is where things can be [improved],'" said former Quebec coroner Denis Boudrias.
Magloire was the father of two girls and worked as a molecular biology researcher before developing a mental illness.
He began living on the streets in November 2013, just three months before his death, according to his brother.
"I think we'll be able to take a step forward as a society, to see there is a problem and to wake up," said Pierre Magloire, adding that he hopes the inquest will prevent situations like his brother’s from happening again.