Some members of the Bathurst police force have been placed on administrative duties following the police shooting that claimed the life of a man outside the local Via Rail station.
Michel Vienneau, 51, the owner of an electronics store in Tracadie-Sheila, N.B. was shot and killed by a Bathurst city police officer around 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that shots were fired by police as a result of an incident,” said RCMP Sgt. Alain LeBlanc.
LeBlanc said the Bathurst officers will remain on administrative duties until the RCMP’s investigation into the incident is complete.
There are reports that Vienneau and his partner had just gotten off a train from Montreal when they were approached by police.
Vienneau’s partner has said there was no indication they were police officers.
Elsie Doucette, who lives next to the train station, witnessed the events unfold.
“I heard three shots — bang, bang, bang. Oh my god, I got so scared,” Doucette said.
Doucette said she saw from her front window a commotion around a vehicle that is now covered up behind the police tape at the station.
Following the shots, she said she heard two women.
“And they started screaming, screaming, screaming. It took two cops to put the handcuffs on the other girl,” Doucette said.
“And the other one was crying and yelling, ‘No, no, don’t take her, it’s not her fault’, but the cops took her away anyway,” she said.
Vienneau died shortly afterward at the Chaleur Regional Hospital.
Nova Scotia RCMP have been given the task of investigating the shooting. At this point, they are not confirming any details about what happened at the train station.
“We have approximately eight major crime investigators from Nova Scotia that are here on the ground to conduct this investigation,” LeBlanc said.
“I can tell you they’re working very hard to say what happened.”
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore
