Inquest into Lisa Dudley's death hears recording of Mountie laughing at report of gunshots
Mission, B.C., woman shot in targeted attack lay paralyzed in her home for 4 days before she was found
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A coroners inquest is now underway into the 2008 death of Lisa Dudley, who was shot in a targeted attack in rural Mission but lay paralyzed for four days before she was found.
Dudley was transported to hospital but couldn't be saved.
A neighbour, Erwin Adam, phoned police to report that he had heard six gunshots and something that sounded like a crash, but the RCMP officer who responded, Michael White, only drove through the neighbourhood.
He didn't get out of his unmarked police cruiser, follow up with Adam or locate the crime scene.
The inquest, which may result in recommendations to prevent other deaths in similar circumstances, began with testimony from Adam and White.
Adam was questioned about the shots he heard, testifying that he had hunting and shooting experience, and the reports sounded like a handgun, not a rifle or firecrackers.
He testified he and a neighbour waited on his neighbour's porch for 20 minutes after phoning the police non-emergency line but never saw any officers arrive.
He said he left some room for uncertainty in his report and "didn't want to be an alarmist" but could have given much more about the details of the gunfire had an officer asked him. He only gave a short statement to police days later once a crime scene had been set up.
'Six gunshots in a row and a crash'
During White's testimony, a recording of his conversation with dispatch was played for the court.
In it, White can be heard repeating the call to confirm the details.
"Six gunshots in a row and a crash," he said, before beginning to laugh.
"Yeah, exactly, don't you love this?" the other voice can be heard saying, all while White continued to chuckle.
"Yeah, I'll head out," he said.
The lawyer for Lisa Dudley's family, Monique Pongracic-Speier, questioned White about the call.
"Is it a funny thing when a caller calls in and says there were six shots fired?"
White answered that it wasn't funny, he was just sceptical about a report of six gunshots that only had one call — other neighbours would have heard it.
The officer testified that he assumed there would be a car crash and when he drove through the area and didn't find one, he concluded there was nothing to the report.
The inquest is scheduled to continue through the week.
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