Emotions ran high during testimony from first responders at public inquiry into Nova Scotia\u0027s mass shooting in 2020
Both versions are heartbreaking but stark inconsistency between two veteran officers, as well as in some of their previous statements, remained frustratingly unreconciled Thursday, leading some in the public gallery to shout out “liar” during the hearing.
RCMP Const. Ian Fahie took the stand first at a public inquiry into the shooting spree by Gabriel Wortman, who was masquerading as an RCMP officer. Fahie spoke of efforts to save Heather O’Brien, 55, who was shot in her car as she was driving near Debert, N.S., on the morning of April 19, 2020. He said he and fellow constable Devonna Coleman arrived to find O’Brien’s Jetta in a ditch. He said he guarded the area from the road — providing “lethal overwatch” — while Coleman checked on the driver.Article content He said he aggressively ordered a firefighter who arrived to help to leave because of fear the gunman was still in the area, swearing at him. He did the same, perhaps without the swearing, when one of O’Brien’s daughters, Michaella Scott, arrived and said “that’s my mother’s car.”Two RCMP officers who shot at bystander during N.S. mass shooting say it was the right decision She dialed a phone and a phone rang in the car, Fahie said, but he deemed it too dangerous for her to remain there. He then switched roles with Coleman, and he went to the car, he said. In a written report soon after, he wrote of O’Brien, “the female was barely alive, showing very little signs. Weak pulse very slight noises.” In a previous interview for the inquiry he said, “I’m trying to put the car in park and trying to drag her out.”Article content In his report, previous interview, and in Thursday’s testimony, Fahie said a member of an Emergency Medical Response Team arrived, tapped his shoulder at the car as he was trying to treat O’Brien and said, “I got this.” Fahie testified both an ambulance and an air ambulance were called but could not come because of the danger. His previous words were that they covered her with a blanket and had to let her die. On Thursday, he said the description was a “poor choice of words.” The noises he heard, he said, were just “air and gasses leaving body.” He said he didn’t mean to say they left her to die, but rather left her when she died.“I know I wanted to feel a pulse,” Fahie said Thursday. “I can’t say for certain if I did feel a pulse or if it was mine.”Article contentI can’t say for certain if I did feel a pulse or if it was mineA member in the public gallery asked how Fahie’s evidence could go from feeling a pulse to not feeling a pulse. Commission chairman J. Michael MacDonald, the province’s former Chief Justice, said he understood emotions ran high.Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan “You don’t understand. If that was your wife, would you understand?” O’Brien’s husband called out. Somebody left the room noisily before Fahie continued his testimony. The next witness was the EMRT officer who Fahie said tapped him on the shoulder while he was trying to help O’Brien.Ivany testified that when he and his partner, Const. Jeff Mahar, arrived at the scene, Fahie and Coleman were on the road behind their car, guns drawn looking at the treeline.Article content He said no one was at the car and when he and Mahar got to the Jetta, the windows on both sides were up and the doors jammed shut. He saw a cluster of bullet holes in the driver’s side window, but the glass remained intact. There was no evidence anyone had been inside to help. Ivany said he was about to smash a window with his baton to get inside when Mahar smashed the driver’s side window. When they got O’Brien out of her car, Ivany was near her head, and he looked down and saw wounds to her upper torso area. He called out that he might have felt a pulse. Mahar questioned this, saying to look at her. “I looked down and at that point was able to observe a gunshot wound to her left eye,” he said. He said he also felt an exit wound in the back of her head.Article content They did a thorough pulse check on different parts of her body and found no pulse. He said he shined a light in her right eye to see if her pupil reacted to it and it didn’t.Ivany was asked if an ambulance or helicopter ambulance would have made a difference. He said not even a surgeon in an emergency room could help.Under cross examination, Ivany was asked about a thoracic seal — a medical device sometimes used to treat chest wounds — that had been applied to O’Brien’s body. He said it’s possible he applied it or his partner did as an initial effort at treatment before realizing it wasn’t necessary. Despite someone calling out “liar” during Fahie’s testimony, one of O’Brien’s daughters earlier said on Facebook that Ivany’s version does “not line up with the facts we have on paper.” Darcy Dobson released data from O’Brien’s Fitbit, an exercise bracelet that monitors body movement and activity, showing a heartbeat for hours after the shooting. She said the data was provided to the inquiry but not included in its documentation.
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