By Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press
Police vehicles are shown outside the scene of the shooting at a home in Winnipeg on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim)
A man accused of fatally shooting five people in a Winnipeg rooming house opened fire after days of using drugs and drinking alcohol there, a Crown prosecutor said on the first day of trial.
Jamie Felix has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the 2023 killings in the West Broadway neighbourhood building.
Prosecutor Georgia Couturier told the jury during her opening statement Tuesday that the case comes down to choices Felix made.
“Choices that we the Crown say were conscious, intentional … responses to what Mr. Felix believed were unsettling events unfolding around him,” she said.
“The Crown will not dispute that Mr. Felix’s state of mind was affected by his use of crack and alcohol. But regardless of his substance use … he appreciated what he was doing. He knew it was wrong and he understood the consequences. He did it anyway.”
Court heard police were called to the multi-unit building early in the morning and that a suspect was seen leaving out a back door. When police arrived, they found the five people had been shot.
The victims were identified as Crystal Beardy, 34; her sister Stephanie Beardy, 33; Melelek Lesikel, 29; Dylan Lavallee, 41; and Shawn Marko, 56.
Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died in hospital. Marko, the fifth victim, spent 18 months in hospital and died last year.
Couturier told jurors that Felix, after days of being at the rooming house, rapidly fired nine shots into a unit known for being a “crack shack.”
“Mr. Felix then turned the gun on himself, only to find that there were no bullets left,” the prosecutor said.
Felix was arrested by police five days later.
She added that Felix was “no stranger” to the place, as he would go with his father. Court heard his father and brother were associated with a gang that operated the drug den in the rooming house.
The prosecutor said the father and brother had been in the suite that day with Felix, and the brother gave Felix a bulletproof vest and a handgun.
She said Felix believed the members were acting strange and that he was concerned he was being used as muscle because he had a military background.
“Even as Mr. Felix asked what was happening, he was given no answers. Instead, he was left in the dark, growing increasingly uncomfortable, increasingly fearful.”
Couturier said Felix went for a walk with his father and fired a shot in a back lane at his father’s request. Felix returned to the suite and almost immediately opened fire, said Couturier.
Lavallee and Stephanie Beardy were shot in the forehead, the prosecutor said. Lesikel had a wound on the side of his head. Crystal Beardy was shot twice in the head, and Marko was shot in his torso.
Couturier said Felix told his girlfriend at the time that he had killed people and also tried to kill himself.
The first witness to testify was an officer at the scene.
Const. Chad Swenarchuk said he and his partner were first to arrive at the building. He could hearing someone screaming.
“There was a male on his back yelling that he had been shot,” said Swenarchuk.
The man later identified himself as Marko. Swenarchuk testified that he asked the man who did this.
“Jamie Houle was the name that he gave me … he was clear. He was concise,” said the officer.
The trial is scheduled to run for four weeks.
Two were pronounced dead at the scene, and two died soon after in hospital. Marko, who had been in hospital since the shooting, died last year.
