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N.B. police officer who fatally shot woman during wellness check testifies at inquest

May 17, 2022 | 9:27 AM

FREDERICTON — The police officer who fatally shot a 26-year-old Indigenous woman during a wellness check in Edmundston, N.B., two years ago says he doesn’t know why things escalated so quickly.

Const. Jeremy Son testified today at the coroner’s inquest into the death of Chantel Moore, who was shot outside her apartment on June 4, 2020.  

Son told the coroner’s jury that he arrived on the balcony outside Moore’s third-floor apartment at around 2:30 a.m. and could see through the window that she was sleeping on a couch.

He says she woke up after he knocked on the window and shone a light on himself to show he was a police officer in uniform.  

Son says Moore grabbed a knife as she exited the apartment and advanced toward him, despite his demands for her to drop the knife.  

He says he shot Moore four times in quick succession and she fell to the balcony floor.  

Son said the police force only had one Taser that worked at the time, and on that night another officer had it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2022.

The Canadian Press