Jessica Paul remembers her partner Bronson Paul as a loving dad, a devoted grandfather and a caring partner.
“I miss him. I miss him so much,” she said.
The home they shared in Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick is now also the place where he spent some of his final moments on Jan. 18. He was shot by RCMP in their kitchen.
For Jessica, staying there is painful. But it’s also where she comes to feel close to him.
“I sit here sometimes, I talk to him,” said Jessica, looking at the spot in her kitchen where Bronson was shot.
Jessica saw it happen.
Jessica is Wolastoqew from Woodstock First Nation but also grew up in Neqotkuk, where Bronson was from.
According to New Brunswick RCMP, officers responded to a report of a domestic dispute. RCMP said the situation “quickly evolved,” when a man armed with an “edged weapon” advanced toward the officers. Police said a Taser was deployed but was ineffective, and an officer then fired their weapon. Paul was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Jessica said that version of events contradicts what she saw and that’s why she’s speaking out.
“I just want everybody to know he wasn’t armed and he didn’t deserve this,” she said.
“I would know. I’m the one that was here. I saw everything.”
Jessica said the police were called because Bronson had been drinking.
By the time officers arrived, she said, Bronson was in the shower. Police made their way to the bathroom door.
He opened it wrapped in their big blue blanket, holding it closed near his neck.
“I heard them say ‘He’s got a knife,'” said Jessica.
“I said, ‘No, he doesn’t.’ He didn’t have a knife.”
She said police Tasered Bronson in the bathroom but he walked out on his own and into the kitchen, unclothed.
She said the house was eerily quiet.
“He wasn’t fighting back. He wasn’t even saying anything … no one was saying anything.”
She said officers Tasered him again and he pulled the probes out.
“Maybe that’s why they were scared,” said Jessica.
Then, she said, Bronson turned toward her.
That’s when the officer next to her raised his gun.
“His gun was already out,” she said.
“They didn’t warn anybody. There was no time. There was no ‘Put your hands up,’ nothing.”
She remembered watching two shots hit his chest.
“I started screaming, ‘No, no!,’” she said.
She tried to run to him.
“They shot him again and they shot him two more times and he fell on his face,” said Jessica.
“I just ran to him and I tried to stop the bleeding.”
She said she couldn’t understand what had just happened, and kept asking the officers ‘Why?’
“I was screaming so loud, ‘You murdered him!‘”
Jessica said what stood out the most to her is that three of their children were in the next room, directly behind where Bronson was standing when he was shot.
“They could have been killed,” she said.
“There were enough cops there they could have de-escalated the situation by using different methods, they didn’t need to use a gun.”
RCMP declined to comment on any of the details she shared, citing the ongoing investigation.
Jessica said for her, justice is simple.
“It looks like that cop behind bars, stripped of his roles, stripped of his title,” she said.
RCMP said the officer’s status is under review pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick’s police watchdog agency, is investigating the shooting.
Jessica said SIRT told her there is body-worn camera footage from the night of Bronson’s shooting.
She believes it will support her account. She wants to see it, but said investigators had warned it could be retraumatizing.
“How much more traumatizing could it be than actually living it?” she said.
SIRT confirmed body-worn camera footage exists but said it’s not standard practice to release it publicly.
“This is largely to protect the privacy of those involved and to reduce the risk of re-traumatization,” said SIRT in an email.
SIRT said releasing footage may have impacts on any potential court proceedings, compromising an accused person’s right to a fair trial.
If no charges are laid, the agency said it will release a detailed public report of the investigation.
If charges are filed, evidence like body-worn camera footage may be presented through court proceedings.
Partner of Wolastoqew man shot by RCMP speaks out
In the weeks after Bronson’s death, Neqotkuk leadership organized healing events, opened an emergency crisis centre and kept a sacred fire at the community hall.
The fire and the crisis centre are finished now but the community continues to advocate for change in First Nations policing.
Chief Ross Perley issued calls to action, including that the RCMP acknowledge systemic racism in policing, for the federal and provincial governments to support a transition away from RCMP to Indigenous-led policing in communities.
He also called for community-based peacekeepers to respond with RCMP to wellness checks, to add First Nations representatives to SIRT investigation teams and for mandatory Indigenous cultural training for police.
Perley said since issuing the calls he’s been in conversation with the province and RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme has agreed to meet with Neqotkuk.
