Mountie 'broke down' after learning man she shot in 2021 died, coroner's inquest hears

One of the RCMP officers who fatally shot a knife-wielding man on the Kingston Peninsula while responding to a domestic call on New Year's eve in 2021 "broke down" when she learned the man had died, according to a colleague.

Hampton Const. Mike Alward told a coroner's inquest he was the one who informed now-retired Const. Monique Sears of Ryan Nowlan's death.

"It was one of the hardest things I've had to do with a coworker was to tell her that unfortunately, Ryan was no longer with us," he said.

Nowlan, 39, was pronounced dead at the Saint John Regional Hospital shortly after 6 a.m., the jury heard. He had been Tasered and shot twice by police — in the right shoulder and right abdomen.

An investigation by an independent police watchdog agency in May 2022 found no grounds to lay charges against the two officers — now identified as Sears and Const. Christian Cunningham.

Nowlan, who was not named at the time, had assaulted his ex-partner, threatened to burn down their home and attacked police while armed with a utility knife, according to a report by Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team.

The force the officers used "was justified and not excessive," it concluded.

Sears, who was injured in an altercation with Nowlan at his home on Kiersteadville Road, and was at the hospital, had asked how he was "making out," said Alward.

"So I took a deep breath and I said, 'Monique, why don't we wait and I'll check in on you a little bit later?

"She goes, 'No, I need to know now, I need peace of mind. I want to know how he's making out, how he's doing.'

Alward said he struggled to find the right words and when he told her, "instantaneously, she broke down and she was emotional."

He was glad Sears's husband was there with her, he added. "He took care of her and just consoled her."

A coroner's inquest into Nowlan's death was announced last Friday and began Tuesday at the Saint John Law Courts building. Presiding coroner Michael Johnston and a jury made up of three men and two women are publicly hearing evidence from witnesses to determine the facts surrounding his death.

The jury will also have the opportunity to make recommendations to prevent other deaths under similar circumstances.

Alward told the jury he was off duty but on-call when he was dispatched at 4:40 a.m. to "an incident at an address that the night shift needed assistance with."

"I didn't receive a whole lot of information, other than I needed to get to the address," he said.

While en route, Alward was told he needed instead to find and follow the ambulance Nowlan was in and arrest him at the hospital.

He waited in the emergency department, where Nowlan was being treated behind closed curtains. There were "a lot of comings and goings," he said.

Once Nowlan was declared dead, Alward said he called the coroner and later assisted staff in transporting his body to the morgue to ensure continuity.

Paramedic didn't think he'd survive

The jury also heard from Nathan Archibald, one of the primary care paramedics who attended Nowlan's home around 4:53 a.m.

Nowlan was on the floor in the basement, and saying he couldn't breathe, said Archibald.

Archibald noted the police Taser prongs were still in Nowlan's shirt and when he cut off the shirt, he saw the two gunshot wounds.

There wasn't much blood, he said, but Nowlan's abdomen was distended, which can be a sign of internal bleeding. Later on, it became evident he also had a collapsed his lung, he said.

He was getting worse very fast. I had the impression that he would not be alive by the time we got to the hospital.- Nathan Archibald, paramedic

By the time they headed to the hospital, around 5:15 a.m., Nowlan's heart rate had dropped from around 140 beats per minute to 90.

"Usually when your body starts to lose massive amounts of blood, your blood pressure will fall quite quickly and as a compensation mechanism, your body will start increasing your heart rate to match your blood pressure," said Archibald.

"So it seemed as though he was his body was starting to decompensate, so he was starting to basically lose his fight, I guess."

On the way to the hospital, Nowlan's heart rate and respiratory rate both kept falling and it was harder to keep him awake.

"He was getting worse very fast," said Archibald. 

"I had the impression that he would not be alive by the time we got to the hospital."

Suffered cardiac arrest in ambulance

Archibald had requested assistance from advanced-care paramedic Caleb Cummings.

Cummings told the jury he's trained to perform more procedures and dispense more medications, and carries extra equipment in his "clinical support unit." He typically goes to all "high-acuity calls" within a 15-minute radius of City Road in Saint John, where he's stationed, he said.

That night, he heard the dispatch call regarding gunshot wounds and started heading in that direction, "just to be ready." Once he received the request for backup at 4:58 a.m., he proceeded with his vehicle's emergency lights and siren on, he said.

Cummings met the ambulance at the Hampton onramp to Highway 1 heading west toward Saint John at 5:25 a.m., grabbed his gear and jumped in the back with Archibald a couple of minutes later. He estimates they remained on the side of the road for about three minutes before proceeding to the hospital.

Nowlan was pale and unresponsive, he said. He wasn't breathing and went into cardiac arrest.

Cummings gave him three rounds of epinephrine five minutes apart to try to get his heart beating properly again. They also continued chest compressions, but Nowlan had no heartbeat for about 20 minutes by the time they arrived at the hospital, he said.

Upset about being awoken by daughter

Earlier in the day, the inquest heard from the two Mounties as well as Nowlan's ex-partner.

She went to the Hampton RCMP detachment during the early morning hours to report she had been assaulted by Nowlan in the house they still shared with their three children.

Nowlan became upset when he was woken up by one of the children who got up to use the washroom. 

Nowlan assaulted the woman by choking her and "pushing her head into a door with enough force as to cause visible damage to the door," according to the report by Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team.

He also threatened to burn down the house if she left the residence or called the police, and then took away her cellphone, as well as her daughter's.

She fled to the police detachment with her daughter, but their young son was still in the home, sleeping, while the third child was staying elsewhere that night.

Refused to drop knife

The Mounties accompanied the woman back to the house to retrieve some clothing from the basement, when they were confronted by Nowlan, who was hiding inside, with a utility knife in his hand.

He refused to drop the knife, so Cunningham Tasered him, the jury heard. Nowlan fell but got back up and the Taser didn't work a second time so Sears shot him in the shoulder.

Nowlan punched Sears in the face with the handle of the knife, causing a laceration above her eye and to her cheek, then advanced toward Cunningham who shot him in the abdomen.

Nowlan's stepmother sat in the front row for the proceedings with her two brothers.

The inquest continues Wednesday. It's scheduled to last four days.