John Vance, 32, was killed in a shooting on the morning of June 25, 2021.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/B.C. RCMP

A woman who was friends with the victim of a 2021 Shuswap shooting found the man bleeding in his truck just moments after the gunshot.

Chelsey Tkachuk told a Kamloops jury Wednesday she searched for John Vance after learning he was shot, only to find him inside his truck with a shotgun in his arms.

"As soon as I opened the door, it was like reality hit," she said. "It was a lot worse than I thought."

Vance, 32, had been shot in the chest. He fell to the ground and she then left to call 911.

READ MORE: Jury shown videos of confrontation and attempts to save Shuswap shooting victim

With his feet still in the truck and his back on the ground in the car wash bay, police would soon find him in the same place.

Paul Binder, who lived in the home next door and operated the Scotch Creek car wash, is accused of second degree murder. The jury has heard Binder held the 9mm handgun that shot Vance in the torso on June 25, 2021.

Why Vance was at the car wash around 5:30 a.m. that day isn't clear, but he was seen on surveillance footage, shown to the court, driving onto the property in his Dodge Ram pickup as the sun rose.

Camera footage also shows Binder venturing outside to find Vance, then returning again with a gun in hand. What appears to be a brief confrontation ends with Vance getting shot, and Crown prosecutor Laura Drake said she expects the jury will be asked to determine whether it was in self-defence or if it was murder.

Tkachuk testified she was among several people, including Vance, at Binder's house the night before and she had slept on the couch.

She described Vance as like "a big brother" with whom she had built a close friendship within the less than two years they knew each other.

She also said Binder and Vance had confrontations in the past, once stepping in to stop a fight between them in which she "protected Paul (Binder) to make the fight stop," she said.

READ MORE: Penticton RCMP officer cleared of wrongdoing in fatal shooting

On the morning of the shooting, she awoke to the sound of a gunshot and ran outside once Binder came in to say he had shot Vance, she told the jury.

After returning to call 911, she said she couldn't speak because she was "in shock." Another person at the home told the 911 operator what happened and she then tried to return to Vance, dying in the car wash.

"They wouldn't let me go back out there," she said.

The people at Binder's house kept her back because Vance still had the shotgun within arms reach and they weren't sure it was safe, she said.

Two Chase RCMP officers were the first to the scene around 6 a.m. and they tried in vain to give medical care before paramedics arrived.

They told the jury they knew Vance on sight, familiar with him because they had frequently dealt with him. Vance was a known drug user and had a criminal record in both the Lower Mainland and in the Shuswap.

Less than a year before the shooting, Vance was convicted of assaulting one of the Chase RCMP officers who responded to the scene of the shooting.

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