RCMP apologize for response to shooting that shocked residents of N.B. community

Leaders with the RCMP have apologized for the handling of a recent shooting in central New Brunswick, which they now admit took 50 minutes for officers to respond to.

Speaking to a room of at times frustrated-sounding residents on Monday, RCMP officials said it should not have taken officers so long to arrive at the scene of the shooting on Sept. 1 in the Municipality of Grand Lake that left a 75-year-old man seriously injured.

They also said they "dropped the ball" by not providing residents with any communication about the incident for three days while they searched for the suspect.

"We dropped the ball, and I'm not going to hide from that," said West District RCMP Insp. Mike Berry.

"We could have done better. We should have done better … and I want to apologize to the community for the grief and the fear that it probably caused you. We should have had something out and we didn't."

Berry made those comments to a room of about 80 people who gathered at the Chipman Community Heritage Centre to voice concerns about the quality of RCMP services in the area.

The meeting was spurred by the RCMP's response to a call about the shooting outside a home in Gaspereau Forks, which is part of the amalgamated Municipality of Grand Lake, about 80 kilometres northeast of Fredericton.

The RCMP said they believe two people were burglarizing a home when the owner and a 75-year-old man arrived at the scene. An altercation followed, and the elderly man was shot and taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The RCMP have yet to make any arrests in the case.

Officers shared across region

The RCMP divides its officers among the province's 12 regions, said Supt. Andy LeClair, commander for the RCMP's West District. Regional Service Commission 11, which includes Grand Lake, has a complement of 71 officers, he said.

That region includes detachments in Keswick, Oromocto, Nackawic, New Maryland and Minto, which is part of  the Municipality of Grand Lake. However, officers from any one detachment can be tasked with responding to calls in the others.

Speaking to residents Monday night, LeClair said that operating model resulted in the lengthy wait time for the call in Gaspereau Forks.

"There was a lot going on that evening, but we should have done better in ensuring this side of the community was covered off, because when we did a scrub-down, we realized that people were working out of different detachments, and we didn't have someone working at the Minto detachment," LeClair said.

"There's obviously a huge geography when you're looking at Regional Service Commission 11, but we simply need to do better in reducing those [response] times," he said, while confirming there's no provincial standard for how quickly RCMP officers have to respond to calls.

"But we, in this situation, we could have done better."

More officers incoming

LeClair said the RCMP was already working on at least one change that he thinks will improve response times in the Municipality of Grand Lake.

Thanks to added provincial spending starting last year, the RCMP's total complement of officers went up from 56 to 71, but efforts are still underway to fill all of those positions, LeClair said.

Once that happens, the number of officers assigned to the Minto detachment will go up from eight to 10, he said, "ensuring that we have the structure in place that they can work specifically in the community of ... Grand Lake."

Residents cautiously optimistic

Faith Kennedy attended Monday's town hall meeting over concerns about how long it takes RCMP officers to respond to calls.

She said the 50-minute response time to the shooting doesn't surprise her, and she fears would-be criminals have also caught on to how long it could take officers to respond.

"If anything bad happens, it's very scary," said the Chipman resident.

The RCMP have promised better service in the past, she said, leaving her cautiously optimistic things will change this time.

"It seems to be promising and I hope that they can carry it through and I hope that [an improvement of service] really does happen," she said.

Mayor Kevin Nicklin said he didn't get the answers he was hoping for to his questions on Monday.

He asked the RCMP about their decision not to issue an Alert Ready notification about the shooting, which officials on Monday night defended, saying it didn't meet the threshold.

Nicklin said he was also hoping to hear plans to stop sending officers from the Minto detachment to attend to calls from neighbouring communities.

Still, he said he came away from the meeting feeling somewhat optimistic.

"I'm just hoping they do better in our area, or can improve in our area. That would be the biggest thing for us," he said.