Having gun, making threats not proof positive accused fired shots at strip club, judge rules

A Winnipeg man arrested in possession of a Glock handgun after allegedly threatening to shoot up a St. Boniface strip club has been found not guilty of firing two shots at the club that same night.

In a written decision released last week, King’s Bench Justice Christian Monnin said he could not rule out the possibility another unidentified suspect using a different gun had shot at Teasers Burlesque Palace on Jan. 14, 2024.

“When the totality of the evidence is assessed, I am left with the finding that an alternative theory other than guilt is possible,” Monnin said.

Lawrence Joshua Fowles, 35, was convicted after trial of unauthorized possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun while prohibited but acquitted of reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of a loaded restricted firearm.

Court heard testimony at trial that police were called to the strip club around 11:15 p.m. after receiving a report that a male patron had been making threats.

The patron — who one staff member identified as Fowles — was ejected from the club by security staff following an incident with a dancer and threatened to return with a gun, police were told.

Officers remained outside the strip club in their marked cruiser for about 30 minutes before they returned to the East District police station.

A strip club employee testified he was sitting in his vehicle outside the strip club minutes later when he saw a Dodge Ram truck pull up and heard two to three gunshots fired toward the main entrance before the truck drove away.

The man followed the truck to The Riverside hotel on St. Mary’s Road, where, after briefly losing sight of the vehicle, he saw the driver park his truck and walk into the hotel bar.

Police, alerted to the suspected shooter’s presence at the hotel, arrested Fowles in the bar. They obtained a search warrant for the Dodge Ram and seized an unloaded Glock handgun and one spent shell casing.

A police officer testified a bullet found embedded in a metal door frame at the strip club could not be extracted without damaging it in a way that would make subsequent analysis impossible. Another bullet found inside the lobby was so badly mangled it could not be confirmed as having been fired from the Glock handgun, court hard.

Defence lawyers argued the gunshots could have been fired from another vehicle captured on security video at the time, noting police did not examine Fowles for the presence of gunshot residue, which, if present, would have indicated he had recently fired a gun.

The defence also argued it was possible Fowles had a passenger with him who had exited the vehicle during the brief period the witness lost sight of it before arriving at the hotel.

‘The circumstantial evidence must be such that the only reasonable inference available is that the accused intentionally fired the Glock at Teasers,” Monnin said.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the benchmark against which I must decide, and that threshold is high,” he said. “In these circumstances, I find that the Crown has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements of (the) offence.”

Fowles will be sentenced for the firearm possession offences at a later date.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca