Woman testifies about ex-boyfriend's drug use prior to 2023 shooting that left 5 dead
CBC
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of a homicide scene.
The ex-girlfriend of a man accused of fatally shooting five people at a Winnipeg drug house says her boyfriend was a "goofy, playful" guy whose substance misuse led her to break things off with him days before he allegedly committed a mass murder while high.
The woman testified Monday that she became concerned for Jamie Felix after learning about the shooting in the West Broadway neighbourhood on Nov. 26, 2023.
"I knew that that was the area that Jamie would go … so I was just really worried about him and his safety," the woman, whose name is protected under a publication ban, told Crown attorney Chantal Boutin. "That's the area that [Jamie] frequented when he … relapsed."
Felix's ex said she broke up with Felix shortly before the shooting, on Nov. 17, after he relapsed again using crack cocaine. She didn't hear from him again until someone showed up at the apartment she, Jamie and her son shared on Nov. 23.
"I didn't know it was Jamie. He was banging at the door … I was scared because I didn't know what's going on, so my instinct was to just go in my son's bedroom … and call 911," she told court, adding she realized while on the phone with police that the person at the door was Felix.
"He didn't look like himself. I know that he wasn't sober by the way he looked. He was definitely angry. His eyes were dark, but I knew it was him at that moment."
Three days later, on Nov. 26, he was spotted in the area of the mass shooting at the Langside Street drug house, prosecutors said.
The shooting left four people dead, including Maxwell Lavallee, 41, Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, and sisters Crystal Shannon Beardy, 34, and Stephanie Amanda Beardy, 33.
Shawn Marko, 56, survived for 18 months after the shooting but died last year.
Felix was arrested about a week after the shooting, on Dec. 1. He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder.
Two police officers testified earlier in the trial that Marko identified a man named Jamie Houle as the shooter. Court heard Monday that Felix has siblings who go by the last name Houle.
Investigators have testified Felix's fingerprints were found at the scene, and Felix's mother told court she reported to police that she suspected her son did it.
Crown witnesses, including Felix's mother, have said he took medication from a condition that caused seizures but continued to misuse drugs and alcohol despite warnings from medical professionals.
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