N.S. man charged in threats case: ‘If the cops come back, I’ll shoot them’

After Mounties showed up at a Cole Harbour home last fall to tell a drunken man to quiet down, the homeowner allegedly grabbed a pistol from under his pillow and threatened to shoot the next police officer who came to his door.

It was two hours before dawn on Sept. 30, 2023, when the RCMP fielded a call about a verbal domestic dispute on Leander Drive where a man had been drinking too much.

At one point, the man went outside and his common-law spouse locked him out of the house. Then he called police to help get him back inside.

Once police arrived at about 4:39 a.m., they found the man, Michael Cormier, to be intoxicated, but the couple agreed to calm down and officers left.

Grabbed his gun

“Immediately following police leaving … Cormier grabbed his 9 mm black handgun out from under his pillow and held it in his hand, saying, ‘If the cops come back, I’ll shoot them in the face,’” RCMP Const. Peter Quinlivan-Hall said in a search warrant application.

His spouse refused to stay in the bedroom with a gun, said the investigator.

“Cormier then went downstairs with the firearm and left it in the basement,” Quinlivan-Hall said.

The couple continued arguing the next morning, said the constable.

‘Refused to let her leave’

At about 11 a.m., she was packing up to leave, but “Cormier didn’t want her to go and began pushing her into the closet and refused to let her leave,” Quinlivan-Hall said.

She yelled for their tenant to help, said the investigator. He came into the room and separated them, and she left the home.

Cormier’s spouse called a friend to relay what had happened, and he called police with her on the line.

“Police attended but Cormier refused to come out,” Quinlivan-Hall said.

‘Pinned her to the ground’

Police then learned of another incident on June 25, 2023, where an intoxicated Cormier allegedly grabbed his spouse “pinned her to the ground and put one her arms behind her back and held her to the floor for a short period of time,” the constable said in information to obtain a warrant filed at Dartmouth provincial court.

Investigators interviewed the tenant, who was “at times hesitant to provide details,” Quinlivan-Hall said. “He also at one point stated that he didn’t want to get Cormier in trouble.”

He told police Cormier “drinks frequently on the weekends and had consumed approximately 20 beers that evening.”

Booze argument

The tenant woke up at about 4:30 a.m. to the sound of the couple arguing about alcohol, the search warrant application said.

He went back to sleep until about 9:30 a.m., when he was awakened again by an argument sparked when Cormier’s spouse poured six beer down the sink.

The couple continued arguing through the morning, and at one point the tenant heard Cormier say: “Go ahead. Call police. If they enter my house, I can shoot them in the face.”

She was collecting her belongings when the tenant went out on the deck for a smoke. Then he heard Cormier’s spouse scream and went back inside to learn that “Cormier had been holding her in the closet and wasn’t letting her leave with the cats.”

‘Only grunted’

She left and the tenant told Cormier that police wanted him to leave the house as well with his hands up. “But he only grunted at him.”

The tenant told investigators that Cormier had shown him some of his guns about two months earlier. “Cormier showed him a SKS assault rifle, an older bolt action rifle, a .38 pistol, and a vintage pistol,” Quinlivan-Hall said.

Police were told Cormier kept his firearms in a basement safe.

The tenant said “Cormier has far right views and likes to talk about protecting his house,” the constable wrote.

Cormier eventually walked out of his home and police arrested him.

‘Inherently high risk’

Quinlivan-Hall convinced a justice of the peace to grant a search warrant for Cormier’s home, shed and his black Toyota Camry parked in his driveway.

“This is a domestic dispute involving firearms which is inherently high risk,” said the investigator.

“I believe it is important to search all possible locations on the property to ensure no firearms are left behind that could pose a mortal risk to the victim, police or the general public.”

During a Sept. 30, 2023, search, Mounties seized three pistols, including a Glock 17 9mm handgun, and a Smith & Wesson M&P 22. They also seized loaded magazines, ammunition, Winchester and Olin-Mathieson rifles, a taser baton, a collapsable baton, brass knuckles with points and several replica guns.

In court next month 

Michael Serge Cormier, 42, is facing charges including assault; uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm; unlawful confinement; using a firearm in the commission of an offence; three counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; two counts of contravening a regulation to store, handle, transport, ship, display a firearm; careless use of a firearm; two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon; and two counts of possession of a weapon or device knowing its possession is unauthorized.

Those all have a Sept. 30, 2023, offence date.

Cormier is also charged with an assault carrying a June 25, 2023, offence date.

He’s scheduled to appear in Dartmouth provincial court Feb. 21 for election and/or plea.