The Mandeville shooter, who was in a four-hour shootout with police on Tuesday, had multiple run-ins with the law in the past. Shooter Dave Alfrancis Wilson, otherwise known as Brown Man, had a criminal record in Canada, where he was deported from at least twice.
Local reports have confirmed that years before Wilson settled at an apartment complex on Caledonia Road, he travelled to Canada. He was arrested and convicted multiple times for several unarmed robberies in the 1990s. In one of the incidents, he and an accomplice targeted a video store. The pair, who were identified as the “yo-yo bandits”, were armed and held hostages until they ultimately surrendered to police.
After being deported twice, Brown Man lived on Caledonia Road for nearly a decade. During his time there, one woman says she saw signs of trouble long before Tuesday’s deadly confrontation. According to a neighbour, Wilson’s behaviour had been spiralling for more than a year. The woman, who requested anonymity, said things turned sour after she rejected his advances last year.
She said CCTV footage later captured Wilson scattering trash across her property after she and her partner used a shared garbage skip. The neighbour also accused Wilson of poisoning her small dog. She believed Wilson to be the culprit after reportedly seeing footage of him throwing something on her balcony while she and her partner were away for some time. She said her dog became ill the following day and ultimately died with a lot of poison in her system, according to the autopsy.
Despite her repeated reports to the police, she claimed officers initially dismissed her concerns, even when Wilson allegedly threatened her in their presence. “I told them I was in fear for my life, but they laughed it off,” she added.
On Tuesday, she was at the apartment complex when she heard the gunfire. She added that she also saw police dodging bullets behind a van. Brown Man was apparently determined not to surrender when he barricaded himself in his apartment on Tuesday. He fired scores of shots at the police, who returned fire until they could breach the building. Wilson was found injured and died at the hospital.
The neighbour said that Wilson’s last act was no surprise because, according to her, “he seemed like the type to snap over the smallest things and snap excessively.”
The standoff stemmed from the fatal shooting of 31-year-old Adrian Bernard during a dispute over the cost of eggs. Inside his apartment, police found an Omni Hybrid multi-calibre rifle, a Beretta 9mm pistol, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.