They were so scared of a texted threat, they needed a plan.
One of the young women who was in Emily Altmann’s car after the fatal shooting of Josue Silva at a southeast London bush party said she, Altmann and three other women made a plan in the car about what to say to police if they were questioned.
And it was to lie.
“We were all scared and we didn’t know what to do,” said MacKenna Bain, who was testifying Monday at the Superior Court second-degree murder jury trial of Altmann, 22, and Carlos Guerra Guerra, 23.
Altmann and Guerra Guerra have pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of Western University student Silva, 18, who died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen on July 31, 2021.
They have also pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon of Logan Marshall, one of Silva’s closest friends.
Bain described the initial events of the evening when her group were splashed by a drink they perceived to have been tossed in their direction and photos they believed had been taken of them.
It led to a loud argument between Altmann and Isabella Restrepo, Marshall’s girlfriend at the time and, ultimately, after drawing the attention of others, the decision was made for the Altmann group to leave.
But Altmann was angry as they were leaving and there was discussion about going back for a fight.
Bain said she wasn’t interested in the fight. “I think the argument was a waste of time. It was over-exaggerated,” she said in cross-examination by Altmann’s defence lawyer Nathan Gorham.
“The right thing to do would be to be a bigger person and walk away and say it happens,” Bain said.
She said she could understand Altmann’s anger, but everything after that was “unnecessary.”
She disagreed with Gorham that Restrepo, Marshall and others were following them out, but “there was a thought” they might be followed.
“We never confirmed who left or who was behind us,” she said.
They reached Altmann’s car and drove around for a few minutes, with Altmann making calls and texting, before returning to the same area. Altmann got out of the car saying she was going “to meet some guys and they were going to fight.”
Bain said to Gorham later in her testimony, “Emily doesn’t want to fight that group. She wants someone to fight them… She needed help and she wanted other people to fight with her.”
Altmann, Jamie Falardeau and Falardeau’s sister left. Bain and her friend Maya Pluchowski stayed in the car. “I think fighting is stupid and I think there is a much better way to deal with everything.
“When they said they said they were going to go fight, it’s like, ‘Why am I going to watch a stupid fight?… Let’s move on; Let’s go do something better.’”
Bain wanted to go to another party or leave. In the car, she said she drank and looked at her phone. And, she recalled hearing what she thought was a gunshot.
A few minutes later, Altmann and the two other women returned to the car and “everyone was freaking out… Emily was very distraught and freaking out.”
Bain wanted an explanation. Altmann replied, “They shot him, they shot him. My life is over. I’m going to go to jail’ and all this stuff.
“She was very upset and losing it. And she was driving the car and swerving.”
Later, under questioning from assistant Crown attorney Kristina Mildred, Bain recalled Altmann saying, “He shot him, he shot him. He’s going to die. My life is ruined.”
Bain said she tried to calm Altmann. Then, Altmann received a threatening text message she read to the four women in the car that warned them not to say anything about what happened.
Bain said she couldn’t remember exactly what the text said, but the gist was “you open your mouth, you’re dead.
“I know once this text came out we were all scared and we didn’t know what to do and we basically made a plan of what we were going to say and what we were going to do.”
A plan was devised while they were driving back to Jamie Falardeau’s house. Bain said she wrote a text to Altmann that read, “Did you get there safe to Andrew’s house?”
Altmann immediately wrote back that she did. The idea was to cover their tracks and suggest they had left the area before the shooting happened.
“We were all in agreement when we left that car that just don’t say anything,” she said.
Bain said they were afraid of the threats. “Somebody already lost their life; I didn’t want to lose my life.”
Altmann dropped the four women off and left. Bain said the seriousness of the situation didn’t kick in for her right away.
Bain said she was drunk and “I remember being so out of it, I couldn’t get the severity of what happened.” She recalled seeing a video Maya Pluchowski had filmed in the car and telling her to delete it.
The next morning she went to work, then found out through texts from her friends that someone had died. She went home early and police were at her door a couple of hours later.
Bain said she stuck to the plan and only told the police up to when she, Altmann and her friends left the part after the initial arguments.
But she felt guilty for not telling the police everything. She spoke to a friend who encouraged her to to “do what is right.”
She returned to the police and gave a full statement.
The trial continues on Tuesday.