A manslaughter trial in Rossland has heard testimony from the girlfriend of a man who was fatally shot in a rural Grand Forks home more than three years ago.
On a 911 call played in court, a frantic Keera Roberts is heard saying: “Oh my God, he just shot my boyfriend. Bring an ambulance.”
Roberts made the call at about 2 a.m. on April 16, 2023. She said she did so after seeing Sean Tiessen with a gun in his hand.
Roberts testified that it happened after a prolonged argument between Tyson and her boyfriend, Joshua Lockwood, 33, who accused Tiessen of abusing their puppy. The insults were first traded face-to-face and continued from their respective bedrooms, she said, adding the fatal encounter happened after Lockwood left to get a drink.
Roberts also testified she wanted to perform on her face-down boyfriend but couldn’t flip him over and even held a mirror under his nose to see if he was breathing.
Roberts admitted a toxic relationship with Lockwood included drug and alcohol use, but said their relationship with Tiessen, for the most part, was good.
On Tuesday, the Crown alleged Tiessen called 911 about 20 minutes after Roberts made her call. Prosecutors say Tiessen told a 911 operator he acted in self-defense after Lockwood threatened him with a hachet.
Roberts admitted during questioning by Tiessen’s lawyer she was in another room couldn’t see if that was the case.
However, she denied removing a hachet from beside Lockwood’s body, or seeing Lockwood use one to cut kindling while yelling at Tiessen over alleged abuse of the couple’s puppy.
Roberts also didn’t remember seeing a hachet in the home before the incident.
She agreed Lockwood was agitated and belligerent and couldn’t calm him down while he was trying to goad Tiessen into a fight, but denied she was part of the verbal exchange.
Lockwood berated Tiessen with terms such as “you’re an animal abuser” and “you’re a little bitch,” she said. She testified that Tiessen shot back by saying things like “you’re a wife beater.”
She admitted to buying fentanyl earlier that day and they want back into their room to do drugs before the fatal encounter. Roberts testified she had only bought a small amount of the drug and was “maybe feeling the effects,” while Lockwood smoked cannabis.
She also disagreed with the suggestion that their dog abuse accusation was because of their intoxicated state.
Tiessen is accused of manslaughter. His jury trial opened this week and is expected to last about a month.
— Vista Radio correspondent Drew Wilson
(CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Keera Roberts’ first name.)
