Mother of Lac Brome teen killed by Quebec provincial police testifies at coroner's inquest
CBC
The mother of 17-year-old Riley Fairholm, who was shot to death by Quebec provincial police in 2018, says the coroner's inquest into her son's death is one of her last hopes at finding out what happened that night.
Tracy Wing, Riley's mom, gave her version of events before Quebec coroner Géhane Kamel at the Sherbrooke courthouse Monday.
Wing was among the first witnesses to testify at the inquest into the circumstances surrounding the teenage boy's death.
"To wait four years (for answers) for an event that took 61 seconds, I believe it was a lack of respect toward Riley, toward me, toward his father, toward his family," Wing said in her testimony.
"It was like, 'you don't matter, you're worth nothing, so we're going to give you nothing.'"
Riley was killed by Sûreté du Québec police on July 25, 2018 after 1:40 a.m. in an abandoned parking lot restaurant in Lac-Brome, Que., about an hour southeast of Montreal.
He was dressed entirely in black, and it was he who called 911.
Police said that when they arrived they tried to negotiate with the teenager to drop a weapon — an air pistol he had taken from his father's home. The pistol was found at the scene.
The interaction between police and Fairholm lasted just over a minute, then one officer shot him in the head.
"There was no negotiation — in 61 seconds, you don't negotiate," Wing testified.
Fairholm's family has been critical of the provincial police and Quebec's independent police oversight agency, known as the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), for a lack of transparency. The shooting was investigated by the watchdog, and the Crown decided not to lay charges.
The family has since filed a civil suit and a complaint with the police ethics committee.
Two friends of Riley's also testified Monday, describing him as an affable and caring teenager, who would occasionally discuss his mental health struggles.
Wing said those struggles were met with contempt by educators at his high school, Massey Vanier, in nearby Cowansville. She said teachers were quick to suspend him for distracting other students in class, instead of seeing his interjections as cries for help and looking for solutions.
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WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence: