Couple describe sheltering behind a car as two Fredericton constables were shot

A Fredericton couple thought they were helping a man who had a seizure. But as they approached they noticed he was bleeding and was very still.

Kendra Snodgrass told her boyfriend Shawn Noble not to touch the man. Noble checked his pulse and felt nothing. Almost immediately after, she said, two police officers showed up, and "everything kind of got worse."

The man on the ground was Donnie Robichaud. He had been shot multiple times, and was lying on the ground by a silver car, where Bobbie Lee Wright was shot in the front seat.

The officers were Fredericton constables Sara Burns and Robb Costello. They were fatally shot almost immediately after they got out of their squad car and approached Robichaud and the couple. They were responding to a call of shots fired at an apartment complex at 237 Brookside Dr. on Aug. 10, 2018.

Fifty-year-old Matthew Raymond pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, but admitted to shooting the four people. His defence team is arguing he's not criminally responsible because of his mental illness.

Snodgrass and Noble were among seven people who testified Wednesday, the second day of full trial proceedings.

Snodgrass said when the officers showed up she heard a loud banging but didn't see them get shot. Noble testified he saw something plastic being thrown in their direction and thought it was a bomb. He pushed Snodgrass behind a red car and they sheltered there.

Snodgrass cried when she described looking over and seeing the two police officers on the ground.

"I waited there for a second to see if they were getting back up again and unfortunately not," she said.

She said "it felt like an eternity," but an armoured vehicle finally came to get the couple. Noble said the two might have been hiding for five to 10 minutes.

Crown prosecutor Jill Knee told the jury in her opening statement the Crown will show Raymond shot the four people but did not target Snodgrass and Noble, even though they were there. She said this crime was planned and deliberate, and that Raymond appreciated the nature and quality of his actions and he knew what he did was wrong.

However, Justice Larry Landry told the jury Wednesday to disregard this part of the opening statement.

"It is not permissible for Crown to give arguments nor give opinion in opening statements," he said.

Landry also told the jury rational behaviour, such as targeting people, does not alone prove the person was criminally responsible.

"Some people who appear to act rationally may actually be suffering from a disease of the mind that may negate their criminal responsibility," he said, and rationality is only one factor the jury must consider.

'They made me do it'

The first witness Wednesday was Ceilidh Bowen, a student paramedic at the time. She was in the ambulance when Raymond was arrested after the shooting.

She said when Raymond was brought into the ambulance after being arrested, he was "calm" and "coherent," despite having at least three broken ribs and three gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

Bowen said that despite his injuries, Raymond was not behaving as if he was in pain. She said she heard him say three sentences, not to anyone in particular: "They were outside my window, they were taunting me. It's not my fault. They made me do it."

When the ambulance reached the hospital, Bowen had no more contact with Raymond.

Neighbours testify

The court heard Wednesday from two other residents of 237 Brookside Dr. 

The first was Justin McLean. He lived in a basement apartment looking out onto the parking lot where Robichaud, Wright, Costello and Burns were shot.

McLean testified Raymond had complained to him once about the noise from someone revving their motorcycle engine in the parking lot. McLean said Robichaud rode a Harley-Davidson.

On cross-examination, defence lawyer Nathan Gorham challenged McLean. He said McLean said he was the one who struck up the conversation with Raymond but told the police earlier that Raymond was the one starting the conversation, and that he seemed "off."

"Are you trying to insult me?" McLean asked Gorham as he was beginning to play a recording of McLean's police statement. "You're trying to make me seem like a liar."

Gorham said he was not trying to do that, and asked which version was true? What he told the jury or what he told the police?

McLean said what's most accurate is that Raymond was the one who started the conversation.

The second neighbour who testified was Timothy Morehouse.That morning, he woke up to someone yelling, "Shut up, shut up," then two gunshots, he said.

As he was getting to the window, he heard three more shots. He looked out and saw Donnie Robichaud on the ground, he said.

Former coffee shop owner asks Raymond not to return

Brenden Doyle, who owned the former Read's Newsstand and Café in downtown Fredericton testified Wednesday he recognized Raymond from news reporting after the shooting.

Doyle said Raymond was a regular at the coffee shop and was at first interested in bicycle magazines and historical and fantasy video games. As the years went on, his interests changed to more modern video games set in the Middle East, as well as firearms.

In June 2017, Doyle said, he saw Raymond standing in front of City Hall wearing a sign that said "No Sharia Law." Doyle said he interpreted this as an Islamophobic statement, because that was around the time hundreds of Syrian refugees were beginning to settle in Fredericton. 

When he approached Raymond about this, Doyle said he directed him to watch YouTube videos that would explain his views. Doyle said he didn't watch the videos, but from what Raymond told him, he knew they were not "based on reality."

That's when he told Raymond, "the staff and customers do not share his viewpoint about immigrants ... and that he might be more comfortable at another coffee shop." 

On cross-examination, the defence asked Doyle if he had noticed a shift in Raymond's behaviour that coincided with a change in his views.

Doyle said when Raymond spoke to him, in general, he would speak quickly, moving from one topic to another.

"This would have been typical to him," Doyle said. Raymond had "a lower ability to stay on topic," but "there would be a continuity."

All exhibits entered

Const. Stephane Sabourin with the RCMP major crimes unit in Fredericton completed his testimony Wednesday  morning. Last week, he presented a semi-automatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun taken from Raymond's living room, as well as hundreds of rounds of different types of ammunition.

He also presented a black notebook found inside Raymond's apartment that includes mathematical calculations, and newspapers with "serpent" and "hoax" written on the front pages.

On Wednesday, he continued with documents taken from Raymond's apartment. He presented dozens of pages and documents, some found in lockboxes, full of calculations resulting in 666, 33 and one third, and 77, among others. Some of the calculations were done on paper scraps, envelopes, cardboard and small and large pages.

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