Man denies pointing BB gun at safety officer

A First Nations Safety Officer testified that she was in fear for her life when a man allegedly pointed a BB gun at her while she was on duty in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

Cyril Elk, 47, pleaded not guilty in Brandon court Monday to the charges of pointing an imitation firearm and assaulting a peace officer with a weapon.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok called two witnesses, Helena Mazawasicuna and Christopher Tacan, who were both FNSOs in Sioux Valley on the date of the allegations.

Mazawasicuna was working on the evening of Jan. 11, 2024, when a member of the Virden RCMP contacted the FNSOs about a woman in distress in the community and asked them to assist.

She, Tacan and another FNSO went to Elk’s residence, where the woman was said to be.

The three of them arrived in one FNSO truck, and an ambulance pulled in the driveway behind them shortly after, she said. She saw Elk standing on the porch outside the residence, which was roughly 20 feet from where the truck was parked, Mazawasicuna said.

While she didn’t personally speak to Elk, she said he was “very agitated and angry.” He was swearing and yelling at them to leave, court heard.

Mazawasicuna said the “chaos” started when one of the paramedics accidentally turned the ambulance’s sirens on, and Elk had thought Mazawasicuna activated the sirens on the FNSO truck, she testified.

“He just started screaming at me,” she said, adding that she went back inside the truck to prevent escalating the situation further. Mazawasicuna said Elk looked intoxicated, as he was slurring, screaming and waving his hands.

Tacan was inside checking on the woman, and at some point, brought her to the ambulance, she said.

Mazawasicuna said she didn’t know where he got it from, but she saw the accused on the porch with an axe.

She said she wanted to get herself and her partners “out of there,” but couldn’t since the ambulance was blocking the only exit.

Mazawasicuna said the driver’s side window was rolled down halfway and she heard the accused tell Tacan, “I got something for you,” before getting a “black handgun” from the house.

“He pointed it at my head,” Mazawasicuna said.

She said the accused was still on his porch, and she was in the truck.

“I thought Mr. Elk was going to kill me,” she said. “I was in fear of my life and my partners’ lives.”

Mazawasicuna said the accused was saying something while holding the gun, but she couldn’t remember what since her focus was on escaping.

The ambulance eventually backed out, allowing the officers to leave.

When Kok asked how this situation made Mazawasicuna feel, she said she was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder as a result, and went on medical leave for roughly six months.

“It caused a whole slew of issues for me.”

Tacan, who was an FNSO at the time, said when they arrived, he heard loud music coming from the accused’s house, and when he walked up, Elk told him the woman was inside.

Tacan said he entered the residence and saw two bottles of whisky — one empty and the other half full — and a black handgun.

He testified that Elk seemed to be panicked and intoxicated.

When he got to the woman, Tacan said there was nothing he could do for her but wait for an ambulance, which he said arrived shortly after. He took her to the ambulance and explained to Elk that the paramedics needed to check her over before leaving.

Soon after, he saw the accused on the deck with an axe, he said.

“He wanted us to leave. He was telling us to get out of here,” he said.

Tacan said he told the accused it would “just be a minute.”

“I don’t know if he took that the wrong way, but … he said, ‘I’ve got something for you,’ and came back with it,” Tacan said, speaking of the imitation firearm.

Tacan said he saw the accused wave the gun in the direction of him and the other officers, and Tacan ducked.

“Do you think you would have been able to tell the difference between a real handgun and a BB gun?” Kok asked.

Tacan said he didn’t believe he would.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison asked the Crown witnesses how the truck was positioned, if the officers were wearing their uniforms and what the lighting was like.

He suggested the officers weren’t wearing uniforms and with the way the truck was positioned, Elk wouldn’t have been able to easily identify the vehicle.

Elk denied pointing the gun at anyone during his testimony.

He said he and his ex-partner had been drinking that day and he called 911 when his partner started having bad stomach pains.

He said the windows in his house were boarded up, but he heard a vehicle and went outside to see who it was. He said he saw a plain black truck with no logos parked roughly 50 feet away.

Elk testified that he had a BB gun in one hand and an axe in the other when he opened the front door but immediately set them down on his porch railing.

He brought the weapons because people had tried to break into his house a few months prior, and he was worried it was happening again, he testified.

When Tacan came to the house, Elk said he told him nothing was wrong and there was no need for them to be there. He said he only wanted an ambulance.

He denied yelling but said his regular speaking voice can be loud.

“You heard from Helena Mazawasicuna that you pointed the gun at her head. Tell us about that,” Harrison said.

“I can’t say nothing about it, ’cause none of that happened,” Elk said.

Kok questioned Elk about how much he drank, how long he had been drinking that day and what he was doing earlier.

He said he had been drinking since he woke up and had roughly 10 ounces of whisky. He said he was intoxicated but not “stinkingly” intoxicated.

Kok also questioned why he set the axe and BB gun down immediately when he opened the door if he didn’t know it was the FNSOs.

She suggested to Elk that he was “so impaired” he couldn’t remember some of his actions. She suggested he got angry because they weren’t leaving and thought pulling out weapons was the only way he could get them to leave.

The Crown and defence are expected to make their closing arguments in May.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com