Alain Bellefeuille testifies he suspected intruders before fatal encounter with police

CBC

08-05-2025

Alain Bellefeuille, accused of murdering an OPP sergeant and attempting to murder two constables during a wellness check gone wrong in 2023, testified Thursday that he woke up that morning to the sound of banging and the shine of a flashlight, and immediately thought there were intruders outside his home.
Bellefeuille pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder at the outset of his trial in L'Orignal, Ont., east of Ottawa, in March.
It's an admitted fact in this case that Bellefeuille killed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Eric Mueller, critically wounded Const. Marc Lauzon and wounded Const. François Gamache-Asselin when he shot them before dawn on May 11, 2023.
Part of what the jury will have to decide, based on Bellefeuille's upcoming testimony and all the other evidence heard at trial, is what he was thinking and what his intentions were when he repeatedly opened fire.
Under chief examination in French by defence counsel Biagio Del Greco, Bellefeuille, 41, began his testimony saying he was feeling nervous and anxious to be speaking in front of so many people after his time in custody.
He said his father and uncle were hunters, and his father and friends taught him to shoot. He bought the SKS rifle used in the incident for sports shooting at targets on gun ranges and in the woods, and testified weapon wasn't allowed to be used for hunting.
By 2023 he'd stopped sports shooting but kept the rifle strictly to protect himself and the house he was renting, he said. He was due to move out of at the end of May that year.
It was a big gun, he said — semi-automatic and high-calibre. It can scare people by making a "big enough bang," he said in French, and can do a lot of damage.
He bought a linear compensator to help the rifle shoot more accurately at long range. He added after-market rails and a scope with magnification and illuminated crosshairs with adjustable brightness. The scope had no night vision capability.
Made magazines illegal in case of emergency
He had last loaded the gun more than a year earlier, keeping it at the foot of his bed for quick access. Asked by Del Greco if he knew that was against safe storage rules, Bellefeuille said he took the risk because he lived alone, had few visitors and "the danger was very small that anything would happen."
A friend and his partner had been held at gunpoint, tied to chairs and beaten during a home invasion in Kemptville, Ont., in 2007 or 2008, and it made Bellefeuille think it could happen to him, especially in his rural home. His home and vehicle had been robbed in Gatineau, Que., and in North Gower in rural Ottawa, he said.
He admitted to modifying magazines to hold more than 20 rounds despite a law restricting capacity to just five rounds.
"It was for the ease of having access to bullets if needed," he told court in French. "In an emergency situation I wouldn't have time to reload the gun, so that is why I modified the magazine, to have more capacity. I had more than $10,000 in cash in my house on May 10, 2023."
He had bought a motion-activated light for his porch about two or three years before the shooting. In court, he read a Home Depot product listing for a porch light he said looked exactly the same, which could detect motion across 150 degrees and up to nine metres away.
The day before the shooting
After finishing work at a residence in Orléans on May 10, 2023, Bellefeuille cashed a cheque, went to a hardware store, then went to get gas and 10 to 12 cans of Jack Daniel's whiskey mixed with soda. Court was shown a photo of his kitchen showing two flat boxes of empty cans of the drink.
After running errands and talking to people at his new residence about his pending move, Bellefeuille drank with a friend and then at home. He consumed about 10 drinks between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. — a normal amount for him, he testified.
He went to bed in his work clothes at about 2 a.m. and fell asleep immediately — also a normal occurrence for him when he drinks and is exhausted, Bellefeuille said. Next came the fatal encounter.
Video from Mueller's body-worn camera that was played in court showed Lauzon repeatedly knocking on the back door and window of the house.
Bellefeuille told court that the first thing he heard was his dog barking, followed by what he described as more of a "banging" sound than a knocking. He didn't hear voices, but saw what looked like a flashlight.
"Immediately I thought it was an intruder who was trying to knock down my back door. It was 2:30 in the morning, nobody announced themselves, nobody warned me or called me," he said in French. He did not look outside.