Teen guilty of murder, attempted murder in 2020 shooting spree

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This article was published 17/12/2021 (1411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 15-year-old boy has been convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for a shocking Canada Day 2020 shooting spree in Winnipeg.

The youth, just 14 at the time of the shootings, was also convicted by Queen’s Bench Justice Chris Martin of one count of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life in connection to a fourth victim.

The boy showed no visible upset or change in expression upon hearing the verdict Friday. No family members were in court to support him, only a lone social worker.

Court heard Friday prosecutors will be making an application to sentence the boy as an adult to life in prison, with no chance of parole for between five to seven years. The date for sentencing has yet to be set.

The older accused pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder, discharging a firearm with intent and robbery with a firearm. He is currently scheduled to be sentenced early next summer.

At trial, court heard testimony that, prior to the shootings, the two teens were at a friend’s apartment when one of them was overheard saying: “Let’s go catch some bodies.”

The pair’s first victim was walking on Isabel Street with an unidentified man around 2:30 a.m. July 1, 2020, when, in an exchange captured by security video, the younger boy walked up to them and pointed a sawed-off rifle at their heads.

The woman grabbed the barrel of the rifle and, during a struggle for control of the weapon, was shot in the leg.

Martin rejected a defence argument the weapon was fired accidentally and the boy should be convicted not of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life, but the lesser offence of aggravated assault.

“I have no doubt that (he) intentionally pulled the trigger of the firearm to force (the victim) to let go of the barrel,” Martin said. “When she did not let go after two forceful pulls, he fired.”

The young woman was not seriously injured and turned down help from paramedics who arrived moments after the shooting.

About 45 minutes later, Danielle Cote, 27, and 18-year-old cousin Keanu Ducharme were walking on Flora Avenue on their way to a convenience store when they were confronted at gunpoint by two males demanding, “Give us your s—-.”

When Ducharme didn’t respond, one of the males said: “F—- it, kill him,” he testified at trial.

“I was shot in the face” and fell face-down to the ground. Ducharme said he “played dead” as Cote shouted: “You shot my cousin. You killed my cousin.”

“I heard one of (the males) say: ‘We got to kill her, too.’ Then, I heard a gunshot again.”

Cote tried to run and was shot in the back of the head. She died instantly.

However, Ducharme could not identify who shot him, and defence lawyers argued it was not their client but the older accused who pulled the trigger.

Martin said it didn’t matter who shot Cote and Ducharme, the teens “were in this together, each knew there was a gun to the heads of the victims.”

“Each may have played a different part, but they acted in unison for a single purpose,” the judge said. “A common-sense inference dictates that they each specifically intended that (Ducharme and Cote) be killed by a shot to the head.”

Martin said he accepted evidence the teen on trial had been drinking prior to the shootings, but ruled he was not so intoxicated it robbed him of the intention to kill.

“‘Catching some bodies’ was the general plan; terribly, (Ducharme and Cote) were the random, but specific victims,” Martin said.

The teen “had enough time and opportunity to change his mind. The fact he did not, particularly in light of the clear-cut consequences of shooting people, demonstrates he was aware of and considered what he was doing.”

The final victim, Gordon McGinty, was sitting near the outdoor stage at The Forks around midnight when the older teen tapped the barrel of a rifle against his head. The younger teen said: “Shoot him already,” before the older teen shot McGinty through the left ear.

Court heard evidence the teens shot McGinty in retribution for him pepper spraying them outside a Kennedy Street apartment earlier in the day.

The teens were initially charged in connection with a fifth attack — a 44-year-old man had been shot before being struck by a car on Balmoral Street — but the charges were later stayed for lack of evidence.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca