‘He was loved’: Family members of man fatally shot by police testify at inquest

Beth Booker said everyone loved her son Ryan.

“I don’t think he understood how much he was loved,” she said on the first day of the inquest into her son’s death.

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On July 17, 2022, 26-year-old Ryan Booker was fatally shot by police on Highway 1 near Moose Jaw.

A jury was selected on Monday morning in Regina to investigate the circumstances leading up to Booker’s death in a public inquest. The jury will hear from about 15 witnesses, including representatives from law enforcement services and those who were in contact with Booker around the time he died.

During the inquest, the jury will work to determine the medical cause and manner of his death. The jury will also be given a chance to make recommendations on how similar deaths may be avoided in the future.

Coroner Aaron Fox is presiding over the four-day inquest at the Royal Hotel Regina.

On Monday, the jury heard from Booker’s family members. Kaitlyn Hofer, his fiancé, was the first to testify.

Hofer said Booker was a great partner and a great dad, but their relationship spiralled downward a few months before his death.

Similar sentiments about Ryan were echoed by both his parents, with Beth saying he excelled at everything he did. Just a few months before his death, she said his work as an automotive technician was recognized with an award.

Wiping away tears, Hofer said her fiancé struggled with depression and had stopped taking his medication. Hofer said Ryan was honest with her that he was taking cocaine and drinking.

Booker would leave their home in Moose Jaw to use drugs and alcohol in a camper in Belle Plaine, she said, to try and keep it away from their two kids.

Hofer said she would go out to visit Ryan at the camper many evenings after she put their kids to bed.

“I would sit with him, and he would cry a lot,” she said.

Hofer said she tried to get Booker to enter a rehabilitation program for help, but he told her he was not yet ready.

“He knew he wanted to be better,” she said.

On July 16, 2022, a day before Ryan’s death, Hofer and Booker’s parents, Beth Booker and Barry Nosal, went out to check on him at the camper after he sent a text message threatening to take a large dose of Xanax. When they found him, Hofer said she had to crawl through the window of the camper to get inside because he was sleeping so heavily.

In the July heat, Nosal said they wiped the sweat off of him, but struggled to wake him up.

Once they found that Ryan was OK, the three left the camper. Nosal said he took a firearm that was in the trailer, and decided he wanted to have a conversation with his son when he was sober.

Nosal said this was the first time he was aware his son had issues with drugs and alcohol.

“He wanted me to think the world of him, and I did,” Nosal said.

Later that day, Hofer said she went to the Country Thunder music festival in Craven, taking the shuttle departing from the Moose Jaw Superstore parking lot.

While Beth was watching her grandchildren at his son’s home in Moose Jaw, she said Booker came into the house to get a gun, threatening to kill his fiancé and himself. Beth said her son thought Hofer was trying to take their kids away from him.

Later that day, the Moose Jaw Police Service said a man was uttering threats and walking around with a gun in that area. Throughout the day, Hofer said she received messages from Ryan threatening to harm her.

Hofer said her shuttle was re-routed while returning from the country music festival, and she was contacted by Moose Jaw police officers who told her to stop taking Ryan’s calls.

According to a release from the Saskatchewan RCMP, when officers found Ryan in the Superstore parking lot in Moose Jaw, he drove off, pulling over near Belle Plaine.

At 5:30 a.m. Nosal said he got a call from Beth, letting him know Ryan had been involved in an altercation with police.

Nosal said he drove to scene and told police he wanted to help de-escalate the situation involving his son, but his offer was turned down. Instead, he said he was told to park his vehicle several kilometres away wait for further instruction from police.

Nosal said he would have gone to the scene “in a heartbeat” if he had been called on by officers.

“Given the chance, I would’ve gotten him out of there,” he said.

The next time Nosal spoke with the officers, they notified him his son was dead.

The inquest will continue on Tuesday with more testimony.