Fatal shooting involving Rothesay police captured on body cam

CTV Atlantic: Police shooting captured on body cam RCMP and Rothesay Regional Police are saying little about a shooting that involved police and claimed the life of a 27-year-old man.

RCMP and Rothesay Regional Police are saying little about a shooting that involved police and claimed the life of a 27-year-old man.

The Mounties have been called in to investigate the incident, which was captured by one of the department’s new body cameras.

Police were called to a domestic dispute at a home on Shipyard Road in Rothesay around 7 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, police say the officers were confronted by an armed man.

“When they arrived, the gentleman in question was very belligerent and waving knives around,” says Rothesay Mayor Bill Bishop, who was briefed by police after the incident.

“Apparently he took one slash at the officers and missed and came back and they had to take action to protect themselves.”

The homeowner’s son, 27-year-old William David McCaffrey, was shot and later died in hospital.

Police have confirmed that the officer who responded to the domestic disturbance was wearing one of the department’s new body cameras. The video will be turned over to RCMP investigators as evidence.

The small cameras were only recently introduced to police in the Kennebecasis Valley. This is the first serious incident in which the cameras have been put to use.

Observers say it is standard procedure for police to hand an investigation over to another agency.

“The likelihood that they are going to protect their own, so to speak, is much less when it is an outside police organization that’s coming in because they’re taking that task on knowing full well that they need to be very critical in their approach,” says says Mary Ann Campbell, chair of the Centre for Criminal Justice at the University of New Brunswick.

The shooting victim was a nursing student at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus.

Bishop says police have been called to the home before to deal with domestic disputes involving McCaffrey.

RCMP have not said how long it will take to conclude their investigation.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron