The suspected gunman in a shooting spree that killed three RCMP officers and injured two others appeared to be “on a mission,” says a Moncton resident who spotted the “heavily armed” man walking down the road Wednesday night.

In an interview with CTV News, Virginia Boudreau said Thursday she was at her neighbour’s house when she heard that a man outside possibly had a weapon.

Boudreau said she “flew to the window,” only to see the suspect who has become the subject of a massive police manhunt in the New Brunswick city.

At first, Boudreau said she didn’t take it very seriously. “We kinda thought it was just some young kid doing something really stupid, trying to get a rise out of people.”

It was the look on his face that prompted her to call 911.

“He had this really dead look in his face, he was walking in a straight line, looking in a straight line,” Boudreau recalled. “If anybody said anything to him, he don’t look even look at them, he didn’t blink, nothing.

“He was on a mission, you could tell,” said Boudreau, who added she could distinctly see a crossbow “across his right shoulder” and bullets around his waist.

Still in disbelief, Boudreau said it became clear that the gunman wasn’t looking to harm civilians. She said he heard her on the phone with RCMP as she stood at the end of the driveway.

“He could have turned around at any point and shot me or shot my neighbour who was also on the phone,” Boudreau said.

Within minutes of another call placed by her neighbour, Boudreau said an RCMP officer arrived on scene.

“(The suspect) wasn’t even at the end of the road before the police officer was already in here,” Boudreau said.

She said she pointed out the suspect at the end of the road and warned the officer that he was heavily armed.

The officer left, but Boudreau said she and her neighbours still didn’t “ grasp the exact magnitude of the situation” until they heard shots ring out a few minutes later.

Boudreau said she later learned that the officer had been shot to death.

“It’s kinda sad that we sent him down there alone, without anybody to back him up.”

Boudreau said she’ll “never get (the officer’s) face out of my mind.”

“He just had such a friendly face,” she said of the officer. “It’s really a shame that anything like this had to happen to anybody.”

Boudreau said Thursday she has been “shaken up” by the incident, and hasn’t been able to sleep or eat. She said she feels bad for everyone involved in the tragedy.

“It’s a sad moment for Moncton right now.”