‘I heard him take his last breath’: Sask. woman recounts moment her husband was shot

The trial of a man accused of killing a Saskatoon man at a house party last year began Tuesday with emotional testimony from the victim's partner.

Eva Pritchard said she tried to stop the man accused of shooting her husband.

“I asked him twice not to shoot,” she told the court.

Her spouse of 19 years, Arden Panipekeesick, 48, was shot Feb. 10, 2024, inside their home at 238 Avenue K North.

Katlim Desjarlais-Kelly, 23, is charged with second-degree murder. His jury trial began Tuesday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.

Pritchard said she had only met Desjarlais-Kelly once or twice before, and referred to him in court as “the kid.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Pritchard and her husband lived in the basement of 238 Avenue K North, while four others occupied the main floor.

Before the killing, Pritchard said she and her husband heard “a loud bang,” while her upstairs roommates hosted guests she didn’t know.

“It was as if someone was kicking the door, or kicking the wall really hard,” Pritchard testified.

The couple went upstairs, where an argument broke out between Desjarlais-Kelly and Panipekeesick. Pritchard said her husband wanted the kid out of the house.

She said the yelling turned into a shootout.

“There was shooting, there was bullets,” Pritchard testified, adding she moved back toward the basement stairs to avoid being hit.

Pritchard said the kid went out the front door, but quickly returned — asking for a string to tie off his arm.

Pritchard said after the string broke, he stepped outside again and came back holding a gun.

“I tried to grab his arm, and I told him, ‘Stop! Don’t!’” Pritchard testified.

“The jacket slipped out of my arms. I did that one more time, I said, ‘Please, stop,’ and he shot my husband.”

Pritchard said the kid fled. She ran to her husband, who was holding onto the washing machine to prop himself up.

“I stood there holding him. The blood just wouldn’t stop coming out of his mouth,” she testified.

“I heard him take his last breath, and we both dropped to the floor.”

A neighbour’s security camera footage shows a person walking out of the house at 6:52 a.m.

The person appears to wave down a police vehicle, then runs. As the police vehicle gets closer, two more people leave the house.

Emergency crews declared Panipekeesick dead at 7:01 a.m., according to an agreed statement of facts.

The Crown is expected to call more witnesses in the trial, including police officers and forensic experts.