His mother, Carol Chartrand, said she forced herself to think of other things while sitting in court and listening to police testimony.

"I felt I was going to go crazy. I had to remind myself of other places," a tearful Chartrand said Friday after the inquest hearings ended. "I kind of took these mini-trips in my brain (so) that I wouldn't have to be there."

The inquest delved into a cold January afternoon in 2005 when Winnipeg police responded to a reported robbery in the city's north end. Dumas, who it was later revealed had nothing to do with the crime, was stopped by Det. Jon Mateychuk for questioning.

Dumas, 18, ran away but was quickly caught by Mateychuk. He hit the officer and got away again, police and civilian witnesses testified, and was soon caught by Mateychuk a second time.

Const. Dennis Gburek saw the fight and approached. Seeing that Dumas had a weapon in his hand, Gburek pulled out his gun.

The inquest heard Dumas, who had a screwdriver in his hand, then started walking quickly toward Gburek. The officer started backing away and told Dumas to drop his weapon or he would be shot.

Mateychuk pepper-sprayed Dumas to no apparent effect, and when Dumas got within two metres of Gburek, the constable pulled the trigger.

Although Gburek is Metis, the shooting prompted cries of racism from some aboriginal leaders. The lawyer for the Dumas family, Donald Worme, said the young man was targeted because, as an aboriginal youth, he loosely matched the description of a robbery suspect.

Worme compared it to the 1998 police shooting of J.J. Harper, an unarmed aboriginal man, whose death helped prompt a judicial inquiry into how aboriginals are treated by the justice system.

But unlike Harper's death, Dumas's shooting was witnessed by several civilians, most of whom backed up police statements that Dumas continued to be aggressive and came at officers with his screwdriver despite several warnings.

"This event, unfortunately, was driven by the actions of Mr. Dumas," Kim Carswell, the lawyer for the Winnipeg Police Service, told the inquest.

Earlier in the week, an RCMP expert on the use of force said officers had no choice but to shoot Dumas.

Cpl. Greg Gillis, who helps guide training for police forces in British Columbia, said officers are trained not to let anyone with a weapon such as a knife or screwdriver within eight metres of them.

The Dumas family's lawyer said Matthew was "foolish" to fight with police, but added there is no way of knowing what was going through his mind.

Dumas may have become disoriented by the pepper spray and unable to hear the commands to drop his weapon, Worme suggested.

One possible reason for Dumas's initial attempts to flee was the fact a warrant had been issued for his arrest on an unrelated matter.

"My complaint still remains that Matthew shouldn't have been killed," his sister, Jessica, said after the hearing.

"There's always more than one side to a story and it's beyond unfortunate that we'll never get to hear Matthew's side of the story."

Provincial court Judge Mary Curtis is to render her ruling, including recommendations to prevent something similar from happening again, within six months.