The jury in New Brunswick’s coroner’s inquest into the fatal shooting of Chantel Moore has ruled her death a homicide.
The 26-year-old Indigenous woman was shot by an Edmundston police officer during a “wellness check” after she advanced toward him with a knife on the morning of June 4, 2020.
Moore, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, had recently moved from Port Alberni, B.C., to Edmunston to be closer to her daughter.
Thursday was the final day of the four-day inquest into the shooting.
The inquest heard Thursday from an expert in Canadian policing, who said the New Brunswick officer who killed Moore was following police training.
Chris Butler told a coroner’s inquest on Thursday that Edmundston Police Force Const. Jeremy Son had to use lethal force when Chantel Moore advanced toward him with a knife.
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Butler says Moore was only five to seven feet away from the officer on the balcony outside her apartment, adding that she had the ability to inflict grievous harm or death.
Son told the inquest earlier this week that Moore did not respond to his demands to drop the knife and that he shot her four times in rapid succession.
Butler says Son left himself with no exit by backing up on the balcony, but he says it would only be speculation to suggest the outcome would have been different had the officer instead been standing on the stairs.
The five-member coroner’s jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations intended to help prevent future deaths in similar situations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.