Dramatic details released about fatal Fredericton shooting of two residents and two police officers

FREDERICTON — Newly released documents reveal how last week’s deadly attack unfolded in Fredericton, including a brief account from the officer who shot the alleged gunman in the abdomen.

The documents were made public Friday after a judge lifted a publication ban on court documents in the Aug. 10 shooting spree that killed four people.

The province’s Court of Queen’s Bench had issued the ban on Monday — hours after media reported on their content — imposing an information blackout on the sequence of events that claimed the lives of Bobbie Lee Wright, Donnie Robichaud and police constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns.

The documents released Friday say the alleged gunman was wounded as he allegedly engaged another officer from his apartment window.

The Crown information sheet says at around 7:20 a.m. last Friday, a woman called 911 to report shots fired at 237 Brookside

Drive.

It says the woman said someone was on the ground and she wasn’t sure if they were alive.

Upon arrival, Costello and Burns went into the driveway of the complex while another officer, Sgt. Jason Forward, stopped to ask questions of a passerby.

“Sgt. Forward then heard a couple more gunshots so he proceeded into 237 Brookside Dr. in back of building C,” the document states.

“Once there, he noticed Constables Costello and Burns laying on the ground not moving. He also noticed another male on the ground and not moving, beside Const. Costello.”

A male witness told Forward that shots were coming from the top floor of the apartment building. He and another officer then entered the building, set up containment and confirmed the alleged shooter was in Apartment 11-C.

Forward later learned that another officer, described in the documents as Const. Arbeau, had engaged the shooter after he saw him point his long gun at him from the window.

“Const. Arbeau believed he had hit the shooter in the torso,” the document says.

“A little while later members of the (Fredericton Police Force Emergency Response Team) entered the apartment and took the lone occupant and shooter into custody. The suspect had been shot in the abdomen.”

Police found “items believed to be firearm(s) and ammunition” inside the apartment.

Police have said previously that Wright and Robichaud, who had just begun a relationship, were shot first in the parking lot outside Robichaud’s apartment building, and the two officers were shot when they responded.

Preparations continued Friday for the regimental funeral that is to be held for the two officers on Saturday.