Closing arguments in Canada Day shooting spree

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This article was published 13/12/2021 (1367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The case of a 15-year-old boy arrested following a Canada Day shooting spree that left a 27-year-old woman dead and three people wounded is now in the hands of a judge.

Queen’s Bench Justice Chris Martin is set to deliver his verdict in the case Dec. 17.

The accused, 14-years-old at the time of the July 1-2, 2020, shootings has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one firearm offence.

A now-16-year-old co-accused pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder, discharging a firearm with intent, and robbery with a firearm.

Both teens hit the streets of inner-city Winnipeg in the early morning hours of July 1 with the “shared intention” of shooting somebody, Crown attorney Mike Desautels told Martin in a closing argument, quoting a witness who overhead one say they were “going to catch a body.”

The pair’s first alleged victim was walking on Isabel Street with an unidentified man when the accused walked up to them and pointed a gun at their heads. The woman grabbed the barrel of the sawed-off rifle and during a struggle for control of the weapon was shot in the leg.

Desautels rejected an argument by defence lawyer David Ireland the rifle was fired accidentally.

“(The accused) intentionally discharged that firearm when (the victim) had it pointed down at her thigh,” said. “To secure that firearm, he had to intentionally discharge that gun at her.

“If the (rifle) was just to intimidate, if it was just for kicks to scare the girl, just to rob them, why does it have to be loaded?” Desautels said. “Because the intention was to use it.”

A short time later, Danielle Cote and her cousin Keanu Ducharme were walking along Flora Avenue when, according to Ducharme, they were confronted at gunpoint by two males demanding he “give us your s—-.”

When Ducharme didn’t respond, he was quickly shot in the face, he testified at trial. Ducharme said he heard one of the males say: “We got to kill her, too.” Cote was shot from behind and died instantly.

Desautels alleged it was the younger accused who shot both Ducharme and Cote as well.

The Crown said the swiftness with which the two accused resorted to deadly force suggested it wasn’t their intention to just rob the victims.

“Did they go there to rob or did they go there to kill?” Desautels said. “Did they go there to ‘catch a body,’ or to rob?”

Ireland, who argued his client’s actions were clouded by alcohol, said it was the older accused who wielded the rifle and his client should be convicted only of manslaughter as a party in Cote’s death and aggravated assault, not attempted murder for Ducharme’s shooting.

“There is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt of (an intention to kill),” Ireland said. “This is a robbery.”

Gordon McGinty was sitting near the outdoor stage at The Forks when, Desautels alleged, the older teen tapped the barrel of the rifle against McGinty’s head. The accused said: “Shoot him already,” before the older teen shot McGinty through the left ear.

“The Forks shooting was completely brazen. It was packed there,” Desautels said. “That’s as close to a public execution as you will ever get.”

Ireland said his client should be acquitted in McGinty’s shooting, saying no witness could place him directly at the scene.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca