Fourth teen sentenced in ‘random, senseless’ killing at downtown library

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This article was published 23/01/2024 (641 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“This was Tyree when he was little,” Tania Cayer told a provincial youth courtroom Tuesday, holding photos of her slain 28-year-old son as a child, during the sentencing of the last of four teens who killed him inside the Millennium Library 13 months ago.

Then she picked up a small container of her son’s ashes.

“This is him now.”

The end to her son’s life in the mostly quiet Millennium Library on a Sunday afternoon 13 months ago was triggered by an argument the vulnerable, homeless man got into with a group of angry youths through glass doors at the building’s front entrance.

The details of the slaying were subject to a publication ban until all four teens had made their way through Manitoba’s justice system. None of them can be identified, as they were all young offenders when the crime was committed.

“It was, basically, a random and senseless killing,” Crown attorney David Burland told provincial court Judge Samuel Raposo, while the now-18-year-old who initiated the slaying was sentenced for manslaughter. He had been in custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre for 408 days.

After another 10 1/2 months in custody, he will be subject to 12 months under an intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision order in the community. The program is meant to give specialized therapeutic programming and services to youths with mental-health needs who are convicted of serious, violent offences.

The sentence, considering time served, amounts to three years, which is the maximum sentence for manslaughter allowed for youth. Burland and the teen’s lawyer, Barry Sinder, jointly recommended the sentence.

The teen, diagnosed with ADHD, possibly has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Burland told court, and has significant issues with impulse control and anger. He was apprehended three times by child and family services and only recently rekindled a relationship with his birth parents, who have struggled with alcohol addiction.

The prosecutor noted the teen has a talent for art and enjoys outdoor activities.

Burland said the 18-year-old has been involved in 17 incidents while in custody at the youth centre, including fights and threats of fights.

Raposo, before issuing his sentence, asked the teen if he wished to speak to the court. He stayed silent, his head down, before nearly inaudibly saying: “I don’t know what to say.”

“I’ve said to all four youth, I said: You all have circumstances that you grew up in… but you can change, moving forward. You can change tomorrow… Just stop fighting.”–Tania Cayer

Sinder said the teen has expressed remorse for his role in the attack.

The three other co-accused — two of them now 15, the other 16 — were sentenced last year. All three also entered guilty pleas.

One of the 15-year-olds, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to time served and 18 months of supervised probation under the intensive supervision program, which allows for a higher level of support and supervision than typical probation.

The 16-year-old, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to three years of custody and community supervision, is also under an intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision order.

The 15-year-old who stabbed Cayer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to seven years in custody and community supervision, the maximum youth sentence for that offence. His sentence is also being served under an intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision order.

The crime on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022 was captured on video surveillance cameras.

The group of boys — a 14-year-old, two who were 15 and one 16-year-old — had been kicked out by security guards for being loud a couple of minutes earlier.

Something — or perhaps nothing — that Cayer, who struggled with mental-health issues, said or did while he was inside and they were standing just outside the doors, led to some sort of dispute waged with taunting and hand gestures.

But one of the boys produced a knife and the bickering quickly spiralled.

After the knife was produced, the 16-year-old went inside, followed by the other three.

The oldest boy grabbed onto Cayer, who pushed him off into a wall as the two struggled in the building’s lobby. Cayer ran deeper into the library, but the boys followed, and one of the 14-year-olds pulled out his knife again.

In view of library staff and others, the 15-year-old tackled Cayer to the ground and punched him, as the 16-year-old and one of the 14-year-olds stomped on him.

The other 14-year-old stabbed Cayer three times while he was being beaten on the ground. One of the stab wounds perforated his heart, and although Cayer jumped over the reader services desk to seek help from traumatized library staff, he died while the boys ran away.

Cayer’s 48-year-old mother implored the 18-year-old teen, like she did the others at their sentencing hearings, to “be a warrior” and do good with his life, rather than more harm. At the end of the hearing, she hugged his family members.

Outside the courthouse, she told reporters she was just glad the court process was over.

“I’ve said to all four youth, I said: You all have circumstances that you grew up in… but you can change, moving forward. You can change tomorrow,” she said. “Just stop fighting.”

Cayer was a talented teen athlete and a star on Elmwood High School’s football team. He appeared destined for a professional career before a series of concussions and other injuries sidelined his dreams.

Tania Cayer said she hopes her son is remembered for his talents, not his death.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca