A longtime conflict between neighbours led a Sooke man to shoot his neighbour in the stomach with a rifle, a B.C. Supreme Court jury heard Monday.
As a trial began for Paul Tregear, Crown prosecutor Sofia Green advanced the Crown’s theory that Tregear was standing with a rifle outside the home of his neighbour, Anthony Nelson, on May 7, 2022, and shot him when Nelson came outside to retrieve something from his camping trailer.
Tregear is facing charges of aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, maim or disfigure, possessing a firearm without a licence and pointing a firearm at a person.
Green told the jury in her opening submissions that Nelson was home with his wife in their rural Sooke property, unaware Tregear was outside.
When he went to his camping trailer, he was surprised to see Tregear and asked what he was doing, Green said. Tregear walked toward Nelson and shot him, she said.
Nelson wrestled the rifle away from Tregear, who then fled, Green said.
Nelson waited for police to arrive and was taken to hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound, while officers arrested Tregear in a nearby neighbourhood, she told the jury.
The two couples had been neighbours for years, but over time the relationship had become “unfriendly” due to conflicts between them, Green said.
Several officers are expected to testify in the trial, including some who were on the scene, an officer who will testify Tregear has no firearms licence and another who will explain findings from a gunshot residue test done on Tregear, Green told the jury.
Nelson, his wife and his son are expected to testify as well. Nelson is expected to describe the night he was shot and prior interactions he had with Tregear and his wife.
Const. David Devine of Sooke RCMP took the stand Monday to describe the “chaotic” scene he arrived to, finding Nelson doubled over on his front stoop screaming that he had been shot.
Devine said he saw the rifle sitting near Nelson and his wife and he removed five bullets from the gun, which was caked in mud.
He testified another officer, Const. Natasha Mongraw, drove Nelson and his wife to an ambulance that was waiting nearby. Police did not want paramedics to come to the home because of the risk there was an active shooter, he said.
When another officer arrived with a police dog, Devine accompanied that officer as the dog tracked a scent from Nelson’s home down an embankment and through thick brambles to Tregear’s home next door, where officers with the emergency response team were setting up.
A few hours after arriving on the scene, Devine heard over his radio that officers had pinged Tregear’s cellphone in a nearby neighbourhood. Shortly after that, he heard Tregear had been arrested, he testified.
The trial continues today and is scheduled for two weeks.
