Nick Cake’s cellphone rang at 6:09 a.m. — not unusual for a defence lawyer with a steady practice at the beginning of his day.

But this call, last Friday morning, would shake the London lawyer to his core.

The “very calm, very cool, very collected” voice on the line was his client, 35-year-old Sam Maloney, moments before he was shot dead by London police.

What Cake said he heard provides some dramatic — and concerning — insight into what happened at the red-brick bungalow at 56 Duchess Ave., when Maloney was shot by police officers during a pre-dawn raid on his home.

Authorities have rermained tight-lipped about the deadly clash, but Cake said he understands Maloney was “shot in the face.”

Cake said he’s already shared what he heard over the phone with the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the Ontario police watchdog agency looking into the shooting where a member of the London police emergency response unit was injured by a crossbow.

The heavy police presence at the Old South home was underlined by the SIU’s statement that three officers have been designated subject officers in its investigation and 18 as witness officers.

Police had descended on the house with a search warrant that morning. Maloney’s death was the first fatal London police shooting in 17 years, and remains under SIU investigation.

Cake talked about the phone call the same day Maloney’s common-law wife, Melissa Facciola, 35, was released from custody on bail on two weapons charges after she was held in custody over Christmas and away from the couple’s two young children.

Cake told The London Free Press he could hear noise in the background when he picked up the phone and Maloney was on the line right away.

“‘Hi Nick, it’s Sam. The police are raiding my house,’” he said.

Cake said he could hear shouting from an authoriative male voice and Facciola “screaming frantically.”

The male voice was telling Maloney to put his hands up.

Cake said he started to ask what the police were there for, then it clicked that the situation was volatile.

“‘Sam, put your (expletive) hands up . . . They’re going to shoot you, Sam. Put your hands up.’” Cake said he told him.

“‘OK,’” Maloney said calmly.

The yelling and screaming continued. Cake told him again to get his hands up.

Again, Maloney said, OK.

“Right after that ‘OK’ there are four shots in succession — like pop, pop, pop, pop. No breaks, no more than four, no less than four also,” Cake recalled.

Maloney said nothing to his lawyer about a crossbow, Cake said, adding he never heard one, either. He also said he doesn’t know if he was talking to Maloney on a speaker, a cell phone or a landline.

Shocked by what he was hearing, Cake said he put the phone down but didn’t hang up for about six minutes. He could still hear Facciola screaming, “but there is no more authoritative male voice.”

The screaming trailed off. Cake hung up the phone, pulled on his sweats and decided he needed to go to Duchess Avenue. He drove to Old South, found the fire trucks, ambulances and a small parking lot filled with police vehicles.

Cake said he parked his car on a side street and walked up Duchess Avenue. He spoke to two officers and told them he was Maloney’s lawyer and wanted to speak to him. He left his business card.

Cake added he overheard some police radio chatter about Facciola.

Back in his car, he drove around the corner and saw the staging of the heavily-armed police emergency response unit.

“I see guys walking back to their vans. They’re in their greys with their black vests and their balaclavas and their big guns,” he said.

Cake said he drove home and waited. The call from an emotional Facciola, who was being held in the police cell block, came a couple hours later.

With her case before the court, and much of the investigation still under wraps, Cake was careful in what he revealed.

He emphasized he doesn’t want to pass any judgment on how Maloney’s injuries were sustained during what must have been a dynamic situation inside the house.

He still has many questions. “I have participated fully with the SIU and maybe one day we’ll get the answers that we’re looking for, but I am looking for answers — there’s no doubt about that.”

Cake added that last summer the police were at Maloney’s home after a bylaw complaint that his grass was too long. Maloney called Cake during that encounter and, after consulting the bylaw, wasn’t forced to cut his lawn.

Cake also added that 2007 charges against Maloney, involving unsafe storage of firearms, were withdrawn and all the weapons involved were registered.

He said Maloney was “an interesting fellow” who liked to run and “was into spiritual enlightenment and things of that nature.”

His concerns now turn to Facciola, who was reunited Wednesday with a two-year-old son and a six-month-old baby girl she is breastfeeding, after spending Christmas in custody. They had been with family members.

After being held on a three-day investigative hold, she was released on bail on the Crown’s consent with two sureties — her father from Newmarket, and her father-in-law from St. Thomas — each pledging $2,000 with no cash deposit. Her next court date is Jan. 10.

She was ordered not to possess any weapons and to stay in Ontario.

A publication ban is in effect on the evidence heard at the bail hearing.

Her eyes often filled with tears as she stood beside Cake and her lawyer, Phillip Millar, on the London courthouse steps following her release. She had no comment.

Cake offered her his suit jacket to pull over her grey sweatshirt to keep her warm.

Along with one count of possession of a crossbow while prohibited, another charge of possession of ammunition while prohibited was added to her charge sheet before she was let out.

Facciola, her lawyer Millar said outside court, watched her husband die “in front of her eyes, in front of her kids.”

The SIU had nothing to add Wednesday and emphasized it wouldn’t release any results of an autopsy until its probe is over.

While in custody, Facciola was left in a cell by herself, Millar said. Jail guards “were nice to her” and got her a breast pump “to relieve the pressure and suffering she was going through.”

“Somebody may want to ask the question as to why a pre-dawn, forced entry was necessary in this case,” Millar said , adding the public needs a full account of what happened Friday.

“(We) specifically want to know why a pre-dawn raid was required in a house with two young children.”

jsims@postmedia.com

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