The man accused in a shooting that killed two people at a Nanaimo mill took the stand in his own defense Thursday, admitting for the first time that he pulled the trigger.
Kevin Addison, accused of murdering Michael Lunn and Fred McEachern in the April 30, 2014 shooting, was called as the first witness of the day in a Nanaimo courtroom.
His defense council painted a picture of a mentally unstable shooter, with Addison telling the court that he was unhappy at his mill job for years – becoming depressed and suicidal.
He also told the court he believed Andy Vanger, a mill manager for Western Forest Products, was out to get him.
“Andy Vanger destroyed my life at the mill in Nanaimo,” he said, adding that he believed Vanger was altering his unemployment cheques.
On the morning of the shooting, Addison sawed off the barrel of his shotgun, loaded it and went to the mill to get answers, he said.
But the first man he saw wasn’t Vanger – it was Lunn.
“I raised the gun,” he testified, “and shot him in the arm.” Lunn would die from his injuries.
Addison said he then moved on looking for Vanger, and found him in an office with two men.
He said he blindly fired a shot into the wall and one of the men grabbed the gun in a scuffle.
That’s when two more shots went off, one of them striking Fred McEachern in the back, eventually killing him.
Lunn’s family was in court Thursday and surprised that Addison took the stand – his wife calling it the toughest day of the entire ordeal.
“Our grandchildren were going to show up today and I’m kind of glad they didn’t, because it’s hard enough with their victim statements coming in that we have to deal with this,” said Michael’s wife Marlene Lunn.
She said it didn’t matter who Addison was out to get that day because in the end, she and others still lost their loved ones.
“I don’t think it changes anything though, does it. We still have two guys who are murdered, we still have two guys who are recovering,” she said, referring to victims Tony Sudar and Earl Kelly, who survived.
Addison’s testimony is expected to continue in court Friday. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.
