Zakkary Reed's hands tested positive for gunshot residue, Saint John jury hears

The jury in a Saint John murder trial has finally heard the results of a long-talked-about gunshot residue test done for the investigation. 

Mélanie Brochu, a forensic specialist in the RCMP's trace evidence services, said swabs taken from Zakkary Reed within hours of the shooting tested positive for gunshot residue. 

Reed, 32, was charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 20, 2023 shooting death of Alexander Bishop, 38, in an apartment at 170 King St. East. 

Brochu spent more than an hour on Tuesday afternoon explaining gunshot residue to the 12 jurors, including what exactly it is and how it's dispersed, collected and analyzed. 

She said a certain amount of residue gets blown onto the shooter's hands, and a "significant" amount of it is pushed out the barrel of the gun. 

She said the particles have a telltale spherical shape and appearance, but are invisible to the naked eye. In fact, particles are about a millionth of a metre. 

Brochu said the particles are not sticky or tacky, so they don't adhere well. She said a shooter will lose about half the amount of gunshot residue on their hands and face within 52 minutes of using a firearm — even without doing anything to try to rid themselves of it. 

She said 90 per cent will be lost in four hours, which is the time frame in which Reed was arrested. 

While particles can persist up to 24 hours on a shooter's face, 48 hours in their nostrils and 72 hours in their ears, the RCMP's lab will only test samples taken within 12 hours of a suspected shooting. 

In the case of Reed, the jury previously heard that he was arrested within four hours after Bishop was shot.

Police witnesses testified that they put a plastic bag on Reed's right hand in order to preserve evidence until swabs could be taken for a test for gunshot residue, often referred to as GSR.

"Particles characteristic of gunshot residue" were found in the swabs taken of Reed's hands, Brochu said, reading from her report.

"Therefore, the person, Zakkary Reed, fired a firearm, or was in proximity to a firearm being discharged, or was in contact with another source of GSR, such as the surface of a firearm." 

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Annie Maltais, Brochu said she could not confirm whether Reed had fired a gun — only that gunshot residue particles were on the surface of his hands. 

She also said she could not say how the particles got there, but that it could be one of the three ways she listed. 

Maltais asked whether she would get gunshot residue on her hands if she had picked up a weapon that was previously fired.

"Yes, it would be possible," Brochu answered. 

She also answered a question Maltais asked police investigators earlier in the trial — why samples from Bishop's hands were never sent for analysis. 

Brochu said her lab doesn't accept samples from victims because gunshot victims would be expected to have gunshot residue on them.

Crown prosecutor Elaina Campbell informed the jury on Tuesday afternoon that she expects to call one final witness on Wednesday before closing the Crown's case.

So far, the trial has heard from 30 witnesses since it began on Jan. 6.