The murder trial of Nicholas Bellemare heard detailed ballistic evidence about the shootout between the accused and police on Thursday.
Bellemare is accused of fatally shooting Ridge Meadows RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien, on Sept. 22, 2023. His trial began in Supreme Court in New Westminster on Monday, Nov. 3.
On Dec. 4, the court heard the testimony of RCMP Sgt. Robert Sayer of the Integrated Forensic Identification Service.
A virtual “fly-through” of the Coquitlam apartment was presented to the court, and those in the courtroom could see the many bullet holes in the walls, the refrigerator, and kitchen cabinets, and one in a window where a bullet exited the apartment. There was also a large pool of blood on the floor.
Sayer explained how police investigators recovered multiple spent bullets in the walls, and even one from the fridge freezer.
O’Brien was part of a team of officers who were undertaking raids on three separate residences on the day of the shooting.
The trial has already heard Bellemare was inside one of the raided locations, a drug stash house in a condo unit on the 22nd storey of 3007 Glen Dr. in Coquitlam.
According to the Crown’s summary of the case delivered on the first day of the trial, O’Brien was the first officer through the door, and Bellemare shot him with an AR-15 rifle, also hitting and wounding Cpl. Colin Ryder.
Another officer retreated and managed to shoot Bellemare in the arm; Bellemare was arrested at the scene.
Video already shown in court showed Bellemare, handcuffed and wearing only his underwear, being escorted out of the building by RCMP officers after the shooting.
He is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
When officers searched the apartment after the incident, they found 724 grams of cocaine, seven grams of fentanyl, and other drugs with a total street value of around $65,000. Police also found $5,000 in a safe.
The police fly-through video of the apartment showed domestic details. In one room, where long guns lay on the floor, a computer was set up, and a cat tree. There were cartoon animal stickers on the wall of what was once a child’s bedroom, and there was a barbecue on the balcony.
Asked about his search, Sayer testified he checked ceilings, floors, and walls for ballistic evidence.
“I touched basically every area of the unit in one way or another,” he said.
He also told the courts he found a fingerprint belonging to Bellemare on the magazine in an SKS rifle.
The trial is scheduled to continue until later this month, at least.