A Lunenburg County Mountie spent a night in jail and faces a day in court after a domestic dispute with another RCMP officer in which several shots from a police pistol blasted into a wall of her home.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Frank Skidmore said a seven-year constable who lives in the Chester area is off-duty with pay from the Bridgewater office as a result of the Sunday afternoon incident.
Sgt. Skidmore wouldn’t identify the officer because no charges have been laid yet but said she is due in Bridgewater provincial court Dec. 6.
However, sources identified her as Const. Adree Zahara.
Sgt. Skidmore said he didn’t know many shots were fired, adding the gun was never pointed at anyone and no one was hurt.
“She discharged the firearm, perhaps in a fit of anger, that type of thing,” he said.
“Both individuals are (RCMP) members. They are not husband and wife, they were former partners and they’re estranged.”
The incident was reported to another police force Monday at 4 p.m. and the woman was arrested later that afternoon. She has been co-operating with investigators and her gun was taken away, Sgt. Skidmore said.
He scoffed at the suggestion the constable hasn’t been charged yet — generally enabling the media to publicize a suspect’s name — to temporarily protect her identity.
“We can’t charge until such time as all the circumstances are known,”" Sgt. Skidmore said. “”We said that the likelihood of the charge would be dangerous use of a firearm, but the information has not been laid yet. Nothing says you have to lay it the next day.
“When it’s appropriate to lay the charge, then of course the charge will be laid for sure.”
Members of the general public are usually not identified by the media in typical domestic disputes.
The constable is not on the current work schedule and will be suspended, after paperwork is completed, at least until her court appearance.
“She is currently off-duty with pay,” Sgt. Skidmore said.
The officer spent Monday night in police custody and was released on conditions Tuesday.
Asked whether anyone else could face charges, Sgt. Skidmore said: “We can’t get into that right now, but there will be a thorough investigation.”"
The RCMP’s Bridgewater office is part of the Lunenburg County detachment and covers rural areas surrounding the town, which has its own police force. Sgt. Skidmore doesn’t think citizens in the area will lose any confidence in their police force.
“This is a tragedy in any event,” he said. “It’s always difficult when you have police officers involved in any kind of a situation and, of course, domestic violence is a serious matter.
“Our wish is that it gets investigated, it gets dealt with and if the individual requires assistance, then that be granted as well.”
In February 2005, another Lunenburg County RCMP officer, Const. Paul Beck, was fined $900 and put on a year’s probation after he pleaded guilty to breathalyser refusal while on duty.
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