'You shot a cop!': Gripping audio of arrest played at Bellefeuille murder trial

WARNING: This story contains strong language and graphic descriptions.

Key pieces of evidence in the trial of a man who shot and killed Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller in May 2023 were played in court Friday — audio and video of Alain Bellefeuille's arrest by a constable on a porch stained with blood.

"Don't f--king move, I'll shoot you! Don't move!" orders then-Const. Ionut "John" Mihuta, moments after he activates his body-worn camera for the arrest and the audio begins.

There's no video because the camera was blocked by an armoured vest he put on to protect himself.

Mihuta, now a sergeant, had arrived at the scene on Laval Street in Bourget, Ont., moments earlier, he told court, after racing down Highway 417 at double the speed limit with his cruiser's lights and sirens activated. 

'I imagined the worst'

"I can remember that on the dashboard of my vehicle, it was a continuous warning saying that this vehicle is limited at 200 kilometres an hour," Mihuta testified Friday, his voice repeatedly breaking on the stand in Superior Court in L'Orignal, Ont., east of Ottawa.

Bellefeuille is accused of first-degree murder and two charges of attempted murder. His trial began March 24, and he has pleaded not guilty.

He said fellow Const. François Gamache-Asselin — who had arrived at Bellefeuille's home earlier with Sgt. Mueller and Const. Marc Lauzon — had sounded scared over the radio, that it seemed like he was running, and that at one point he whispered that someone was after him, trying to kill him.

Mihuta had heard nothing from Mueller or Lauzon — who had also been shot but survived — and neither had pressed the emergency buttons on their radios.

"I imagined the worst, so I try to get there as quick as possible," Mihuta testified, his voice continuing to break.

'It's me. I did it.'

Two paramedics were hovering over Mueller on the porch when Mihuta arrived with his rifle, he said. Another man was pacing on the porch. One of the paramedics noticed Mihuta's quiet approach, then pointed over and over at the man and repeated something like, "It's him. He shot him."

Mihuta signalled to the paramedic to be quiet, but the paramedic kept pointing the man out and eventually ran off the porch behind Mihuta.

The man on the porch finally noticed Mihuta and seemed surprised. He put his hands up to about shoulder height and "said something to the effect of, 'It's me. I did it,'" Mihuta testified.

Mihuta asked the paramedics to pick Mueller up and get him out of there. Mihuta said Mueller appeared to have been dragged out of the house onto the porch, and that there was a lot of blood in the mud room and a semi-automatic firearm on the floor.

Moments after Mihuta's body-worn camera starts picking up audio, Bellefeuille says, "I've got a dog out here, bud. I've got a dog. It's running around."

'They broke into my house! I don't know who it was'

Mihuta gets on the radio. "Sergeant Mueller has a pulse, but he's critical."

The officer gets his handcuffs out. You can hear their metal clinking.

"I don't want to shoot a cop, bud," Bellefeuille implores. "I don't want to shoot a cop but – "

Mihuta repeatedly orders Bellefeuille to put his other hand behind his back.

"I don't know who that came into my house, man, they f--king just broke in! They broke into my house! I don't know who it was," Bellefeuille says.

'Shoot me. I don't want to live anymore'

"Put your hand behind your back! Put this hand behind your back! I got this shotgun at your f--king head! Just f--king do something so I can f--king shoot you, you piece of s--t!" Mihuta shouts, his voice becoming louder and louder.

"Shoot me [inaudible], shoot me. I don't want to live anymore," Bellefeuille says. His voice is almost a whisper on the recording as a handcuff clicks into place and Mihuta breathes hard.

"You killed a cop you f--king animal!"

"I didn't kill anybody," Bellefeuille says.

"You shot a cop!"

"I shot him, but – "

Other officer arrives

Mihuta keeps yelling, then Bellefeuille's voice roars to life. "I didn't, I didn't know he was a f--king cop! I didn't know he was a cop!"

Mihuta screams repeatedly at the top of his lungs for Bellefeuille to shut up, and Bellefeuille screams back that police broke into his house.

"F--k you!" Mihuta howls, louder than before, dragging out the vowels, as Const. Gamache-Asselin runs up onto the porch.

Gamache-Asselin had fled after shots were fired. His knee was lacerated, he earlier testified, and he thought Mueller and Lauzon were dead. The video from Gamache-Asselin's body-worn camera was played just before Mihuta's audio. 

Gamache-Asselin's body-cam footage shows Mihuta hovering over Bellefeuille on the porch.

"Is he cuffed?" Gamache-Asselin yells.

"F--k you!" Mihuta screams again at Bellefeuille.

"Is he cuffed?" Gamache-Asselin repeats as Mihuta stands up. "Anybody else in the house?"

"No, I didn't check," Mihuta replies, out of breath.

"There's a dog, he's ran off," Bellefeuille replies.

'We need more officers'

"Anybody, anybody else?" Gamache-Asselin screams, pointing his sidearm down at Bellefeuille.

"No, he ran off," Bellefeuille says.

"OK. F--k," says Gamache-Asselin.

"We need a helicop..." Mihuta starts to say, but he can't get the word out. He is too out of breath.

"We're gonna clear the house. We need more officers," Gamache-Asselin says, calmly. He's no longer looking at the floor. The camera takes in the porch, and a large trail or pool of blood leading from the house onto the porch.

"They need to get a hospital. Watch him!" Mihuta says, his carbine at his side, as he steps away to get into the ambulance with Mueller and the audio ends.

After the audio ended, Mihuta testified that he told the paramedics to get going, and that an air ambulance was en route to meet them.

One of the paramedics announced that Mueller had no vital signs. Mihuta started to do CPR, he said, but a paramedic stopped him, said they would do it, and that Mihuta should occupy himself with his policing duties.

Mihuta's examination in chief by assistant Crown prosecutor Louise Tansey continued Friday afternoon before adjourning. The trial is set to continue April 14 with the start of Mihuta's cross-examination by Bellefeuille's defence team.