Handgun shooter caught on camera: Separated N.S. spouse ‘was fearful of him’
It was a warm fall night when a shot rang out across St. Margarets Bay.
The Sunday-night shooting at a Fox Point home didn’t attract police attention to Willies Lane on the east side of the Aspotogan Peninsula right away. But Mounties sure heard about it the next day.
“Chester RCMP received a call from Jolene Wright reporting that Brenton Walters refuses to leave her sister’s home,” Const. Cody Canning said in a search warrant application.
“Jolene Wright also reported that on Sept. 10 at approximately 8:30 p.m. Brenton Walters stood in the doorway of 56 Willies Lane … and fired a gun in the rough direction of her home. Jolene Wright indicated that she has a video of the incident.”
Only 200 metres apart
The investigator reviewed maps of the area and was able to confirm that the two homes are only about 200 metres apart.
The next day, Jolene Wright walked into the Chester detachment with her sister, Charlene Wright, to meet with Canning.
“Both Charlene Wright and Jolene Wright provided me with video obtained from security cameras at 56 Willies Lane,” he said in information to obtain a warrant filed at Bridgewater provincial court.
Canning watched the security footage, noting one video shot from inside the home “shows Brenton Walters walk to the open front door,” of the home.
“He can be seen raising a handgun towards the doorway and fires a shot.”
Music and dancing
Walters had loud music playing in the background and he was dancing around with the front door open when he shot the handgun, said the constable.
Another video shot Sept. 8 from outside the same home “shows Brenton Walters walking in the front yard in the dark where he can be seen carrying a handgun. Brenton Walters points the handgun towards the driveway and around the property,” Canning said, noting it was captured with an Eastlink camera just before 10:30 p.m.
A third video shot from inside the house Sept. 11 “shows Brenton Walters walking around the dining room with a handgun tucked into his waistband,” said the investigator.
After watching the videos, Canning got a statement from Jolene Wright “who can confirm she heard a gunshot on Sept. 10,” Canning said.
‘Separated from her spouse’
On Sept. 12, Charlene Wright told the Mountie “she had separated from her spouse, Brenton Walters, two weeks ago as she was fearful of him. Since the separation, Brenton Walters has been staying at her home located at 56 Willies Lane … alone. She indicated that she has video cameras at the home and gets notifications from the security cameras.”
Charlene Wright confirmed for the constable that it was Walters on video firing the gun on Sept. 10 inside her home. Canning could spot the muzzle flash from the handgun that was captured on a Nest Cam.
“Charlene Wright confirmed that she owns two handguns and three or four rifles and shotguns that were stored in an upstairs bedroom” at her home, Canning said.
“Charlene Wright indicated that Brenton Walters would have access to the handguns as he knows the code to the safe where they are stored.”
Multiple assaults
She also told the Mountie about three different times Walters allegedly assaulted her.
“She left the home because she did not feel safe,” Canning said.
“She indicated that Brenton Walters is violent. He wakes up and starts screaming and raging. He has taken the steam mop and smashed the closet door to pieces. He has attacked her several times. He has thrown her to the floor. He has pulled her hair out. He has given her a black eye. Wright feels he has broken her ribs (last winter) because she couldn’t move for six weeks.”
About a month before the shooting incident, Walters took the glasses off her face, she told the constable.
“She could not see so she tried to get them back and he bit her finger. Wright went to the Hubbards doctor’s office to get a tetanus shot.”
Charlene Wright told the Mountie that four or five years back, Walters threw her to the floor in front of their refrigerator while she was getting ready for work.
“Her glasses were shoved and caused the black eye.”
Believing that Walters had committed the offence known as careless use of a firearm, Canning noted bruising on her finger and said Walters was also arrestable for the three assaults, which allegedly took place between Jan. 1, 2018, and Sept. 12 of this year in Fox Point.
‘Acting very paranoid’
Charlene Wright told police Walters knew how to get into her safe, “as they used it to store tip money and valuable items. He has been living in the home alone for two weeks. Charlene Wright also advised that there is a video of Brenton Walters walking around outside and pointing the handgun and acting very paranoid.”
She also let the RCMP know that Walters “would be keeping the firearm close to him and that it is not stored safely,” Canning said.
“It is possible that Brenton Walters knows that Charlene Wright has access to the cameras and may be using the firearms as an intimidation tactic.”
The investigator checked a police database to find “Brenton Walters has a long history of criminal offences.”
Nearly 50 N.S. convictions
Nova Scotia judges have sentenced Walters on 48 charges between 1994 and 2016, for crimes including assaults, unlawful confinement, break and enter, uttering threats, obstructing a peace officer, fraud and driving while his license was suspended.
In 2006, Walters was released from custody in Ottawa on the promise not to possess weapons, but the warrant was only good for a 400-km radius from the nation’s capital, Canning said.
Painting Walters as a “risk to Charlene Wright as well as the general public,” the constable convinced a justice of the peace to grant a warrant for the Willies Lane home.
Harpoon gun and brass knuckles
Mounties seized A Condor Longfowler 12-gauge shotgun, rifles made by Ruger and Savage Arms, a Glock 44, Glock magazines, an Alpha Steel revolver, along with various types of ammunition, a Voit Swimaster harpoon gun, brass knuckles, a Wesson Power Glide Performance folding knife, a compound bow and arrows during a Sept. 20 search of the Willies Lane home.
Walters is facing charges of possessing a prohibited weapon on Sept. 13. He’s also charged with careless use of a firearm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and unauthorized possession of a firearm on Sept. 10.
For the alleged assaults on Charlene Wright, he’s facing a charge of assault causing bodily harm where the offence date ranges from the start of August until Sept. 10. Walters is also charged with two assaults against Charlene Wright, where the offence dates are Dec. 1, 2022, until the end of that month, and Jan. 1 until Dec. 31 of 2018.
Walters is due back in Bridgewater provincial court Dec. 20 for a status report. His trial is slated for Jan. 11, 2024, in the same courthouse.
