Man allegedly fired gun at parents’ home
A 22-year-old who allegedly pointed a gun at his stepmother and father last summer and shot at their Central Onslow home then drove to the Millbrook casino, telling a staffer he'd just shot his dad with a shotgun.
Ryan Henderson had been living in the couple’s detached garage for three weeks when his stepmother, Lori Ann Henderson, heard someone enter their Cobequid View Drive home on the evening of Aug. 27, 2023. She walked downstairs to find Ryan on the couch.
“Ryan picked up a hunting rifle that was under the couch and she asked him to put it down, but he did not,” RCMP Const. Greg Muise said in an application for a search warrant in the case.
'KNEW SHE WAS IN TROUBLE'
“She talked to him for a while and he was initially calm, but his demeanor changed, and she knew she was in trouble.”
She tried to take the gun away from him, “but couldn’t because of his size,” said the investigator.
“Ryan pointed the gun at her and told her to get upstairs.”
She started screaming, which brought the young man’s father, Dana Henderson, downstairs. She told him that she thought Ryan had one of her son’s guns.
'GO UPSTAIRS'
“When Dana came downstairs, Ryan pointed the firearm at his face and told him to go upstairs or he would shoot him,” Muise said.
Dana Henderson grabbed his wife, and they went upstairs and “hid in the bathroom,” the Mountie wrote in information to obtain a warrant filed at Truro provincial court.
She heard their house door slam, but Ryan Henderson was still downstairs with a gun, Muise said. Then the couple heard it close a second time. Around this time, the worried father called 911.
“Ryan’s (Kia sport utility) vehicle started up so she looked outside through the window in her closet and could see his vehicle and could see the lights reflecting on the gun,” said the investigator.
While she was walking to the bathroom from the bedroom, “Ryan shot the gun, and she hid in the tub.”
'GLASS SHATTERED'
Dana Henderson looked out the window “to see if his car was gone and if it was safe to come out; all of a sudden the glass shattered and went everywhere,” Muise said.
At the time, Mounties said the shooter fired into an air conditioning unit before fleeing the scene.
Const. Tyler Shipley of the Truro Police Service showed up at the shooting scene around 9:50 p.m. He’d seen an RCMP vehicle speeding toward Central Onslow and heard about the firearms complaint over the police radio.
Shipley saw “two expended shotgun shells in the driveway,” Muise said.
“A shotgun was lying in the grass next to the driveway.”
WINDOW DAMAGE
There was “damage to a second-storey window that appeared to be caused by birdshot,” according to Shipley’s account.
Mounties at the scene asked him to go into the garage where Ryan Henderson had been staying to “help a family member obtain some clothing,” Muise said. “While in the garage, Const. Shipley saw approximately 20 cartridges of possibly .308 or 7.62 caliber ammunition.”
Mounties took a statement from a staffer at the Millbrook casino who spoke with Ryan Henderson that night.
“She met with Ryan who ... kept telling her to get the shift supervisor,” Muise said.
'HE FELT SAFE THERE'
“She kept asking Henderson what was wrong as he was visibly upset; Ryan Henderson told her that he just shot his father with a 12-gauge shotgun. Henderson said he came to the casino because he felt safe there and would turn himself in; Henderson gave her all his belongings and said he wanted to surrender to police with his treaty family around him.”
Investigators heard the man they were looking for “wanted to surrender to police” and was at the area near the Super 8 Motel in Millbrook. So, they sent two officers to find him on Treaty Trail.
“They both drove to that location and saw Ryan Henderson sitting on the curb,” Muise said, noting they arrested him, but didn’t find any guns in his Kia.
Muise convinced a justice of the peace to grant a search warrant to look for guns at the Cobequid View Drive home and garage where Ryan Henderson had been staying, as well as his SUV.
“Although I believe that the firearm that was used to shoot at the house has been recovered, it cannot be confirmed at this time,” Muise said. “The vehicle that Henderson was driving was cleared for firearms, but not thoroughly searched for ammunition. Based on my experience, ammunition can either be hidden in a vehicle or just inadvertently fall to the floor or drop between seats.”
MULTIPLE GUNS SEIZED
Mounties seized Ryan Henderson’s pants and shirt he’d been wearing that night and tested them for gunshot residue. They also seized 13 rifles, 10 shotguns, a black powder muzzle loader and ammunition during their Aug. 28, 2023, search. They dug shotgun pellets out of the ceiling and collected some found on the floor for evidence. Police took a set of drapes from the home as well.
Ryan Henderson – who has no prior convictions – is facing charges including discharging a firearm with intent, possession of a weapon and careless use of a firearm. All of those carry an offence date of Aug. 27, 2023.
He’s slated to appear in Truro Wellness Court March 11 for a status report.