The alleged U of A gunman has been ordered not to call or contact a long list of people who could serve as potential witnesses, including his own mother. The condition was put on Travis Baumgartner Thursday during his first court appearance in Edmonton.
With his head slightly lowered, the 21-year-old appeared very briefly in court. Closing his eyes, swallowing, and at one point, squeezing his arm, as a judge read a list of potential witnesses he cannot contact, including his mother, friends, G4S employees, and Matthew Schuman, the sole survivor of Friday’s shooting.
“While he’s in remand, he can’t call them, he can’t contact them in any way. They’re friends, they’re witnesses in the file too. The only one who isn’t a witness right now on the file is the father,” says Chief Crown Prosecutor Steven Bilodeau.
Baumgartner is being held at the Edmonton Remand Centre. He’s alleged to have gunned down four G4S coworkers during a delivery at the U of A last Friday.
Eddie Rejano, Michelle Shegelski, and Brian Ilesic were killed. Matthew Schuman is still in hospital.
Baumgartner was arrested Saturday afternoon trying to cross the border between BC and Washington State with $330,000.
“What happened was our officer in the booth had an instant warning that this vehicle is associated with someone armed and dangerous,” explains Thomas Schreiber, a US Customs and Border Protection agent.
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“On behalf of the Crown,” says Bilodeau, “we want to express our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims for this horrible incident that happened… I also want to express that the detectives in the homicide section of EPS have put together a very compelling case.”
Bilodeau says he personally prosecute Baumgartner given the high profile nature of the case.
“It’s not that other homicides aren’t important,” he says, “It’s that this one here really rocked the community; it rocked the whole nation, and I want to make sure the community knows we will take this as seriously as possible.”
Court records show Baumgartner has yet to secure a Defence lawyer, however, Kent Teskey represented him Thursday morning. Baumgartner’s next court appearance is July 5th.
With files from Laurel Clark
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