Bush party shooting witness didn't call police immediately: 'I regret it'

Under tough cross-examination from defence lawyer Nathan Gorham at the London courthouse on Wednesday, Rachel Johnson, 21, was asked a number of times why there was a delay in calling 911 after she and others found victim Josue Silva lying on the ground with a gunshot wound.

Johnson responded, "It's hard to tell, emotions were high… I was walking around trying to get people to help."

She testified that she and dozens of other young people were all at a bush party bash off Pack Road in southwest London on July 30, 2021, when her friend Josue Silva was mortally wounded. Johnson testified that she was being truthful when she said that they weren’t trying to hide anything from police, "I'm not sure why I didn't call 911 right away." She added, "It was very frantic, I was scared and everything around me was very hectic... I regret it."

The 18-year-old Silva would end up being rushed to hospital where he would later be pronounced dead.

Josue Silva is seen in this undated family photo. (Source: Westview Funeral Chapel)

After a police investigation, Emily Altmann, 22, identified in court as one of the partygoers and Carlos Guerra Guerra, 23, would be charged with second degree murder and assault causing bodily harm. Each of them has plead not guilty.

Later under re-examination Johnson said that she was told by the Crown to be truthful while on the stand, and that she has been.

Before wrapping up her testimony she recalled the night of the shooting - fighting back tears when she told the jury, "I was not thinking straight I had not experienced that before... I don't in that moment know why I didn't call 911."

London, Ont. police investigate a fatal shooting on Pack Road in the city's southwest corner on Saturday, July 31, 2021. (Brent Lale/CTV London)

She continued, "Because, when you reflect back on a night like that it's hard not to think what could I have done for things to turn out differently... and I don't know if things would have, it's a regret of mine."

The trial which is now into its second week resumes on Thursday.