Judge hears details of Lower Prospect shooting

The terrifying details of a shooting in the fishing village of Lower Prospect last spring were read into the record Monday after a man pleaded guilty to four charges from the incident.

Jeffrey Paul Mason, 38, of Lower Prospect has been in jail since the day of the shooting, April 9, and has twice been denied bail.

During a video appearance in Halifax provincial court, Mason pleaded guilty to discharging a 12-gauge shotgun with intent to endanger someone’s life, recklessly discharging a firearm, uttering threats to cause bodily harm or death to three people, and using a firearm while committing the indictable offence of uttering threats.

Judge Ann Marie Simmons ordered a pre-sentence report on Mason and scheduled his sentencing for late February. Lawyers said they will make a joint sentencing recommendation.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the shooting happened after a physical altercation between Mason and victim Shawn Burke in a boathouse on Lower Prospect Branch Lane.

Burke was in the boathouse with three friends doing renovations that afternoon when Mason stopped by for a visit. Mason became angry after having a hard time finding the door, which had been moved in the renovations, and slammed a beer down on the counter after he entered the building.

After being asked to leave, Mason grabbed Burke by the neck and drew his fist back as if to punch him. But Burke swung first, striking Mason in the face.

Burke filled a plastic bag with ice and gave it to Mason to put on his injured eye. Mason then asked if he could borrow Burke’s nail gun to do some repairs, but Burke said no and again requested that he leave.

On his way out of the boathouse, Mason said that he would be back. Burke, feeling odd about the altercation, watched Mason go to his truck, take out a shotgun and begin walking back toward the boathouse.

The four men inside the boathouse ran from the building. Mason pointed the shotgun at Burke, yelled “I’m gonna kill you,” and fired at him.

The first round missed Burke. Mason fired at him again as he bolted up the stairs to his mother’s house, hitting him in the head and neck.

Burke ran down the road away from his mother’s house and Mason fired two more shots at him, missing both times. Burke then went into the woods in an attempt to draw Mason away from the homes in the area.

Mason fired another round at the victim when he came out of the woods, but did not hit him. The victim ran into a home on Blackburn Lane and told the resident to lock the door and not let anyone in. The resident gave him a towel for his head wounds.

In the meantime, Mason confronted the victim’s mother, who was standing on her deck, and told her to go inside or he would shoot her too. She took cover in her home.

The victim’s wife exited their residence on Marrsview Lane after hearing the commotion and saw her husband on the run. He yelled at her to go back into the house and call 911.

After she went inside, she heard rounds striking the house. She and her two children hid under a bed in fear.

Mason also threatened another man who had been in the boathouse, saying: “If you don’t get out of here, I’m going to shoot you too.”

The gunman went to his truck and paced around while holding the weapon. His children approached him and pleaded with him to stop before they were removed by another person.

Mason continued to walk around with the shotgun, pointing and firing it as someone recorded video with a cellphone.

Mason’s sister, Jill Theresa Slaunwhite, arrived at the scene. After speaking briefly with her brother, she allegedly removed a baseball bat from the back of her vehicle and ran in the direction of the victim.

Eventually, Mason left the area and went to his mother’s home on Lower Prospect Road, where he was arrested by RCMP. He told police that he wished the person he shot had died.

The court was told that a shotgun pellet went in one side of Burke’s neck and out the other side, and four pieces of metal remain embedded in his face and neck.

Mason had surgery to repair a broken eye socket he suffered from the punch in the boathouse.

Nine other charges against Mason, including attempted murder, are expected to be withdrawn.

Slaunwhite, 31, of Terence Bay, faces charges of assault with a weapon, obstructing justice, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and uttering threats but is not in custody. A lawyer entered not-guilty pleas on her behalf Monday and she’s scheduled to stand trial next July.