24-05-2025
Man appears in court after armed stand-off with police in Bangor during which he demanded to be shot
An RAF veteran appeared in court on Saturday accused of a firearms offence after he pointed a 'realistic looking' imitation gun at armed police demanding to be shot.
Described by District Judge Mark Hamill as a case of 'suicide by cop,' Belfast Magistrates Court heard that Peter Donaldson is lucky to be alive as he put officers in such a state of fear, they fired several rounds at the 45-year-old during a near two hour stand-off.
Det. Const. Martin added however Donaldson had 'retreated behind the cover of the doorway…so there was a very small target area,' adding that with Bangor High Street cordoned off and several members of the public 'extracted to hard cover,' a police dog brought the stand off to an end when it bit Donaldson on the leg.
Appearing in the dock in a wheelchair and with his lower left leg heavily bandaged Donaldson, from Ballyree Drive in Bangor, confirmed he was aware of the charges against him - possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and assaulting police.
Giving evidence that he believed he could connect Donaldson to each of the offences, DC Martin said while police were sympathetic to the defendant's position, police were objecting to bail due to fears of further offending, to protect the public and also to protect the defendant himself.
In an incident captured on video and widely shared over social media and news platforms, he told the court how Donaldson walked into the offices of Quick Cabs in the city centre at around 9:20pm on Sunday evening.
He told the woman working there to call 999, to ask for armed response and that while he had a gun tucked into the waistband of his trousers, 'he wasn't going to hurt her…and that he'd been serving in the army in combat zones.'
Officers from the Armed Response Unit (ARU) rushed to the scene and when they arrived '"he's then pointed the gun out the front door and racked it in the direction of police who, fearing the defendant was going to shoot, fired multiple rounds at the defendant but did not hit him, him having retreated behind the cover of the doorway.'
During the standoff Donaldson made multiple demands to be shot by the police who continually tried to talk him down and the court heard how they were calling to him: 'You're a hero. You don't need to do this. We're not going to shoot you.'
The court also heard however the defendant was shouting at them 'I'm not going to harm you. I respect the law. Just shoot me.'
Eventually, at around 11:30pm, a police dog brought the tense situation to an end and officers were able to step in and disarm Donaldson after he was bitten on the leg.
The gun he had turned out to be a black replica of a Glock which would only fire ball bearings and the courtc heard that when officers searched Donaldson's home, they uncovered a further seven weapons.
DC Martin said officers also found a suicide note and a crossbow, tied with string to a weights bench in such a way that it would fire a bolt at the user.
Arrested and interviewed Donaldson 'gave a full and frank account' and was apologetic and remorseful for the position he had put the officers in and the upset and turmoil he had caused in the city centre.
He told police that having been in the RAF from 2001 and to 2006 where he served two tours of Iraq, he was medically discharged after suffering a back injury of such severity that he has since been on painkillers, including fentanyl, a plethora of medications.
While his doctor had advised him to come off meds slowly, he stopped them all because of their side effects and how they make him feel but as the weekend progressed 'he got progressively worse.'
After consuming part of a bottle of Southern Comfort which was delivered to his home, he got a taxi into Bangor centre and after having a couple more drinks in three bars, he has made his way to the taxi depot.
Donaldson told cops that if a taxi had been outside at that time, he may 'have just have got in it and gone home, however as he sat in the taxi office, his back pain got progressively worse and this made up his mind for him and then he's then formed the intention to attract police to shoot him.'
DC Martin said while police 'have a great deal of sympathy for this man,' there were objections to him being granted bail due to perceived risks to the public and to himself given that he had created a potentially lethal situation.
Lodging an impassioned plea for bail and 'for mercy,' defence solicitor Hamill Clawson said the fact that Donaldson was in the dock in a wheelchair was not just because of the dog bite but that the 45-year-old swaps between a wheelchair, a rollator and a walking stick, depending on how much pain he is in.
He told the court that having been discharged from the RAF in 2006, Donaldson had been living in a specially adapted bungalow 'silently and in pain,' not bothering anyone and almost as a recluse until last weekend when 'he reached the end of his tether.'
Mr Clawson told the court Donaldson had been living of his meagre veteran's pension, that he had not claimed any benefits he would be entitled to and more specifically, he had also not reached out or contact any of the services or associations linked to armed forced veterans to help him with his mental health or PTSD.
He highlighted however that Donaldson is 'a man who requires mercy, is a man who requires assistance' so having spoken to the directors at Reid, Black & Co, 'we do a lot of work with veterans, and this man has never been supported by any of the veteran associations.'
'My directors have told me to address the court and indicate that we will be giving an undertaking to have the different associations engage with him if the court was minded to grant bail,' Mr Clawson told the court.
The solicitor said the incident itself had sparked an emergency referral to the pain management team and the five days Donaldson has spent in hospital has helped him get back to normality and an even keel.
'He is a man of honour, a man who has served his country,' Mr Clawson emphasised, 'who came to the unusual decision that he would engage police to shoot him…but this is a man who had lived a silent life of suffering.'
Judge Hamill said the case gave him 'deja vu' of a case he had 20 years ago when an army veteran who had served in Bosnia went into the Ulster Hospital and held a knife to a doctor's throat 'demanding that he be given a lethal injection.'
He said while he would grant bail, it would be subject to numerous conditions including being barred from Bangor city centre.
Freeing Donaldson on his own bail of £400 and adjourning the case to 26 June, Judge Hamill ordered him to reside at home, to observe a curfew, to report to police once a week and to 'take advantage of any psychiatric or medical help.'
