Shooting suspect arrested in Amherst
AMHERST — The man suspected of shooting another man near a high school in Riverview, N.B., was arrested in downtown Amherst on Wednesday.
Just before noon, Janson Bryan Baker, 24, was arrested without incident at an apartment building on Eddy Street near downtown Amherst.
“We were keeping a close eye on a residence on Eddy Street because we were concerned he may be in the area,” Amherst Police Chief Dwyane Pike said in an interview just after the arrest was made.
“About noon, we had some activity there and we ended up in a position where we were able to arrest the person of concern.”
Baker is suspected of shooting another man outside Riverview High School at about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and then fleeing the scene. The 35-year-old man remains in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Shannon Falconer lives next door to where the arrest occurred. She could not believe it when she looked out and saw the area surrounded by “heavily armed” police officers.
“My boyfriend went out to get coffee and when he came back he said there was something going on next door. When I went out, there were cops everywhere with guns and they had the suspect on the ground,” she said. “It was pretty scary. It scared the crap out of us, to tell you the truth.”
She wasn't sure what was going on until her mother and then her aunt reached out to her to tell her to be safe.
Ryan Beattie, who works in the autobody shop across the street, saw the police presence and was impressed with how quickly the situation was contained.
“They did a fantastic job,” said Beattie. “They went in hard with firepower. They weren't taking any chances. They had the situation under control very fast.”
Beattie said he saw a couple of people being arrested behind the apartment building as well as a person out front. He believes a couple of people in the building may have decided to run.
RCMP said Baker remains in custody and will be brought back to New Brunswick, where he will be scheduled to appear in court. While RCMP aren't releasing the type of firearm used in the shooting incident, they have confirmed it is not a BB gun.
The arrests were made 19 minutes after Nova Scotia's Emergency Management Office issued a public alert.
But the alert came more than an hour after Nova Scotia RCMP said it had requested one be sent out across the province.
Earlier, New Brunswick RCMP said a black 2020 Hyundai Elantra driven by Baker was found abandoned in downtown Amherst but he remained at large.
With Baker crossing the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border, many people took to social media and demanded an alert be issued across Nova Scotia, similar to the one issued in New Brunswick late Tuesday.
Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, PC MLA for Cumberland North, woke up Wednesday and saw the alert from New Brunswick RCMP on her phone. She checked social media to see Baker was still on the lam. Then, shortly after 8 a.m., she learned his vehicle had been found in downtown Amherst.
"I called RCMP, town police and our Department of Justice to inquire about why there hasn't been an emergency alert sent out and that I wanted it done immediately," Smith-McCrossin said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.
"It was done over three and a half hours later. That is a failure."
Smith-McCrossin said she expected the public alert to be sent out faster, especially after the Portapique mass shooting eight months ago.
"There's no need of this. It shows that there's been really a lack of leadership since the Portapique murders, the fact that this has not been fixed," she said. "It's just very disappointing and a huge safety risk. Thankfully, no one was killed in our community this morning, but it could have easily been that outcome and people weren't provided that information."
Smith-McCrossin said she's grateful for the Amherst Police Department and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick RCMP, but is hoping for better communication to the public in the future.
Former CumberlandColchester MP Bill Casey, who has been critical of the RCMP's plan to close its telecommunications centre in Truro, was also disappointed people in the Amherst area weren't alerted sooner.
“They issued an alert in Moncton but not in Amherst, even though they knew the car was here,” Casey said. “I just think it's wrong. Are we in two different countries?”
Casey said someone he knows called the YMCA's child-care centre after he heard about what was taking place and found no one there was aware of the situation.
“The kids were all playing outside,” Casey said. “No one knew about it.”
Wednesday morning, RCMP said residents in the Greater Moncton area could go about their day but urged them to do so with caution. However, all schools in the Anglophone East School District were cancelled.
In Amherst, schools were closed because of the extended Christmas holiday, but preschools and other businesses in the area were open. Several businesses in downtown Amherst closed their doors temporarily after Amherst police sent out a notice urging people to stay away from the area.