Police acting on Crime Stoppers tip when Michel Vienneau killed

Police were following a Crime Stoppers tip when Michel Vienneau was shot and killed in Bathurst in January, recently filed court documents reveal.

The documents filed by Vienneau's widow — Annick Basque — in the Court of Queen's Bench on Oct. 25 in her negligence lawsuit against the City of Bathurst includes a copy of a general occurrence report that includes the information.

According to the report, on the morning of the shooting, a Bathurst sergeant read an electronic Crime Stoppers tip dated Jan. 11, stating that Vienneau and Basque were to arrive by train the next day, January 12, with a load of pills.

After verifying details of the couple's identity with the tipster, such as their address and make and model of their vehicle, the tip was passed on to the drug section of the Bathurst police.

Later that morning, the author of the occurrence report heard a scanner call describing shots fired at the Via Rail station and helped to set up road blocks at the scene.

Vienneau, 51, was shot and killed by a Bathurst police officer after his car was stopped outside the Bathurst Via Rail Station that morning. Basque, his common-law partner, is suing the City of Bathurst, responsible for the local police force, for damages. She believes Vienneau's death is a result of police negligence.

Basque restates her version of events on Jan. 12 in the affidavit filed last week. Vienneau's widow won the right to reveal the names of the officers involved in the shooting in a ruling by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal last month.

The documents identify Mathieu Boudreau as the officer who shot Vienneau, while protecting Patrick Bulger, who was pinned against a snowbank by the vehicle Vienneau was driving. Bulger is also described to have fired a shot into the tire of the Vienneau's vehicle.

In the motion, which will be discussed in court Nov. 12, Basque and her lawyer, Charles Leblanc, request more information from the City of Bathurst, including:

• Emails from Crime Stoppers concerning Basque and Vienneau.
• Copy of the toxicology report and results of Michel Vienneau's autopsy.
• List of items seized by RCMP, and their scene reconstruction and ballistics reports.
• Written statements by all persons interviewed by RCMP investigators.
• Copies of investigators' notes and general occurrence reports.

The drug investigation into Vienneau was a joint operation by the Bathurst City Police and New Brunswick RCMP.

The shooting was investigated by Nova Scotia RCMP and was completed in July and handed over to New Brunswick public prosecutions. No charges have been laid.