A now 20-year-old man who was 17 when he carried out a deadly shooting in La Loche will be sentenced as an adult.
Judge Janet McIvor issued the decision Friday morning in the northern Saskatchewan community — in a court located about one kilometre from the school where the then teen opened fire a little more than two years ago — but held off from delivering specifics of the shooter’s sentence.
The shooter, who sat just feet from McIvor as she announced her decision, still cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He was roughly two weeks shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the Jan. 22, 2016, shooting.
He fatally shot brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine at a home in the community before making his way to the school, where teacher Adam Wood and teacher’s aide Marie Janvier were killed and seven other people were injured.
McIvor described the crime as heinous after delivering her decision. A youth sentence would not be appropriate, the judge said.
The shooter pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder in October 2016.
There was evidence he was a high risk to reoffend, McIvor told court.
She described the “incredible level of violence” in both the shooting of the brothers and of the people in the school as she read her decision.
Nearly all reporters who travelled to the community to cover the decision were left locked outside of the court during the proceedings. McIvor’s decision was shared with the media by the one reporter allowed into the courtroom.
“He ambushed and murdered both of them,” the judge said of the brothers’ deaths. The school shooting was “planned and calculated.”
Drayden was 13 years old. Dayne — who was shot 11 times after pleading for his life, according to an agreed statement of facts in the case — was 17.
The shooter posted to Facebook after killing the brothers, as he drove a truck to the school. He wrote: “just killed 2 ppl” and “bout to shoot ip (sic) the school.”
He entered the school at 1:04 p.m., according to the agreed facts. Wood, 35, was fatally shot from close range and Janvier, 21, was also killed. Seven other people were injured.
The then teen was arrested by RCMP minutes later, at 1:16 p.m., after exiting a school washroom unarmed and announcing he was the shooter.
McIvor told court the shooter did appear remorseful for killing the brothers, but said he did not show the same remorse for the school shooting victims. He “appeared unaffected” by victim impact statements read during previous court proceedings, according to McIvor.
The judge adjourned the remainder of her sentencing decision until March 16.
The shooter is expected to receive a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 10 years, which is automatic under Canada’s Criminal Code for people convicted of first-degree murder who were 16 or 17 at the time of the offence but are to be sentenced as adults. Both Crown and defence lawyers in the case said outside court consecutive sentences or consecutive parole ineligibilities won’t be handed down.
Defence lawyer Darren Kraushaar told media he was not yet sure if the defence team will appeal McIvor’s decision.
“It’s too early to tell with that. We’ll consider all our options,” the lawyer said.
The shooter was prepared for the possibility of an adult sentence, according to Kraushaar.
“Obviously he’s disappointed. His family is disappointed. But he was prepared for this as a possibility, certainly, so he’s accepting it.”
The community’s mayor, Robert St. Pierre, said McIvor’s decision was what many in La Loche hoped to see.
“It’s the sentence I was hoping for, and most of the community was, because of the nature of the incident,” St. Pierre told reporters outside court.
“We still got hurt people, people that are angry and upset.”
Many victims asked the judge to impose an adult sentence when they read impact statements during the first portion of the sentencing hearing in May 2017.
Crown prosecutor Pouria Tabrizi-Reardigan said Friday he hopes McIvor’s decision brings some closure to the residents of La Loche.
“I hope that the community can have closure at this point,” he said. “It was a very tragic event.”
The defence team argued during the sentencing hearing’s closing arguments — which were held in Meadow Lake in October 2017 — that the seriousness of the offence does not mean the shooter should receive an adult sentence.
Lawyer Aaron Fox, who’s working Kraushaar, painted the picture of a "lost soul" and "black sheep of the family" during the closing arguments. The shooter lacks the intellect and cognitive function to have the maturity level of an adult, he argued.
Tabrizi-Reardigan, with the Crown, argued an adult sentence is justified, stating the teen planned the shooting.
"It would be wreckless to assume that (rehabilitation) could be accomplished within the time limit of a youth sentence," the prosecutor told court during his closing statement.
For the public's safety, the shooter should receive an adult sentence, he said.
--- with files from CBC’s Charles Hamilton and CTV’s Angelina Irinici
