Khill tells jury “the threat was imminent,” during cross-examination

Peter Khill says it would have made sense to stay in the house and call the police but he testified on Thursday that he didn’t think of that when he heard loud bangs outside of his Binbrook home.

Khill is on trial for second-degree murder in the shooting death of an Indigenous man. Khill told the jury that he thought there was an imminent threat on his property.

READ MORE: Peter Khill, accused of second-degree murder of Jonathan Styres, testifies in court

“I could have called police,” Khill told the jury on Thursday. When the Crown asked why he didn’t, Khill said, “they could be in my house in a matter of seconds… it didn’t come to my mind at all.”

“The threat was imminent,” Khill said. On Feb. 4, 2016 Khill heard loud bangs coming from outside of his home. Instead of calling 911, or asking his girlfriend to, Khill grabbed this shot gun that he kept in his bedroom, loaded it, and went outside to see who was on his property.

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In cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Sean Doherty went through all of the steps Khill could have taken before coming face to face with the man breaking into his pickup truck. There were two cell phones in Khill’s bedroom, Khill was sure that the sounds were coming from outside and that there was no one in his house. So why didn’t he call the police and stay put? Why didn’t he fire a warning shot, or turn on his outdoor lights to scare off the person on his property? The Crown asked.

Khill responded that it didn’t cross his mind, and he wanted to “gain control” of the situation before it got out of control.

Khill shot 29-year-old Jonathan Styres twice. Once in the chest and once in the shoulder. Khill’s girlfriend, now wife called the police.

Khill testified that he performed chest compressions and breaths on the man he had just shot and became emotional when he described how Styres was gasping for air and appeared to be in pain. Styres died.

“Does self defence mean anything in court?” Khill asked the police officer who arrested him for murder. Whether or not this was self defence is for the jury to decide.