By EMS1 Staff
VANCOUVER, Canada — A paramedic testified in court that she was afraid for her safety and the safety of other responders while responding to the scene of a murder.
Paramedic Hayley Blackmore testified at the murder trial of Andrew Berry, who is charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of his two daughters.
Saanich News reported that Blackmore was dispatched to an apartment where she discovered two young girls, ages 4 and 6, were dead.
“I reached the determination that they were both deceased, so we did not attempt any life-saving measures because they would have been futile,” Blackmore said during her testimony.
The father of the girls, Berry, was in the apartment’s bathroom, where first responders were attempting to treat him. Paramedics were attempting to move him to a different location.
“The plan was to bring him out into the hallway so we could treat him,” Blackmore said. “You can’t treat someone in a bathroom, because there’s no way to get in there.”
At that time, Blackmore heard Berry say the word “kill” in what she described as a deadpan voice, which immediately moved her to use a “stern” and “authoritative” voice to ask all first responders to leave.
“I just all of the sudden was worried about the other paramedics and everyone’s safety,” she said in her testimony. “I wasn’t sure if he said, ‘Kill me,’ or ‘I’m going to kill you.’ I was just trying to think ahead. I thought he may need to be restrained, so I sent somebody to get restraints so we would have them handy in case we needed them.”
The case prosecutor asked Blackmore how she felt after leaving the apartment, and she said she left “sick and overwhelmed.”