Father of suspected B.C. killer seeks access to video taken before son’s death

By Lauren Boothby and The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The father of a suspected killer of three people in northern British Columbia is trying to access a video his son took which details his last wishes before his death.

A lawyer for Alan Schmegelsky says he became aware of the video earlier this month when his son, Bryer Schmegelsky, and Kam McLeod were found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the northern Manitoba wilderness.

Sarah Leamon says she has been in contact with the RCMP on behalf of her client so he can watch the video for closure. Bryer Schmegelksy’s father is grieving, she says, and has a right to see the video his son recorded in his last moments.

“We can’t even imagine the type of emotional distress he’s been put through as a result of everything that’s gone on around his son’s death,” Leamon says. “He just simply wishes to see that video so that he can gain some clarity and gain some closure. So that he can feel as though he has some degree of comfort in an extremely uncomfortable and horrible situation.”

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She says Alan Schmegelsky is concerned about seeing the video for the first time when it is released to the public.

“He wants to see it in private and have a private moment,” she says. “We can’t lose sight of the fact that my client is a father, and he’s a father who lost his only son, his only child under extremely harrowing circumstances.”

An email of the exchange obtained by The Canadian Press says the video is about how Bryer wanted his body to be dealt with after his death.

In the email, the RCMP says the information about Bryer’s wishes was passed on to his mother and that police plan on publicly addressing the video in a media release in the next few weeks. Police have not publicly confirmed the existence of the video.

Leamon says she doesn’t know how the email became public, but she verified its contents.

The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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