A Quebec provincial police sergeant testified Tuesday at the coroner's inquest that he felt threatened when a 17-year-old with a gun advanced on police officers early in the morning of July 25, 2018, in Lac-Brome, in the Eastern Townships.

Sgt. Wallace McGovern testified at the coroner's inquest into the death of Riley Fairholm, a teenager shot in the head by police in the parking lot of an abandoned restaurant.

It was Fairholm himself who had called 911.

McGovern said Tuesday that he repeatedly asked the teenager, in English, to drop his gun -- which police later found to be an air gun.

The sergeant began talking to him through a speakerphone, he recalled. He added that he wanted to get out of the car, but his colleague told him to stay inside. He heard Fairholm say he had been planning this day for five years.

The officer recounted Tuesday that the teen was screaming and waving the gun as he erratically walked toward the half-dozen officers who had responded to the emergency call.

McGovern explained that he saw three possible outcomes in this situation: either the young man would drop the gun, shoot the officers, or the officers would end the existing threat.

The sergeant said he was convinced that the threat was real and he was not sure what he could have done differently under the circumstances.

The officer indicated that he did not see where the shot came from, but that he knew that one of his colleagues had shot Fairholm.

It happened very quickly, with the interaction lasting just over a minute, according to the sergeant.

The officers did not perform any rescucitation maneuvers on the young man, who had a weak pulse.

Genevieve Racine, another police officer at the scene, testified that the team did not have proper first aid equipment and tried to stem the bleeding from the teen's head wound.

The officer also recounted her interactions with the young man's parents at the hospital. She described these interactions as "tense," especially the one with the mother when she found out that her son had been killed by the police and that he had not committed suicide.

The shooting was investigated by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes du Québec (BEI), after which Quebec's Crown prosecutor decided not to lay charges.

Fairholm's family criticized the SQ and the Sûreté du Quebec for their lack of transparency.

McGovern offered his condolences to the family. When asked by the investigating lawyer if the outcome would have been different if he had been able to talk to the youth longer, the officer said he had no idea.

Several SQ officers are expected to testify in the next few days at the Sherbrooke courthouse as part of the inquest, chaired by coroner Gehane Kamel.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 14, 2022.