Saskatoon 13-year-old pleads guilty for role in fatal 2024 shooting of 12-year-old friend
It happened in a house on Matheson Drive on Feb. 19, 2024, when three boys, two 12 and one 13, were drinking vodka and passing around a loaded sawed-off .22 rifle.
The gun went off, killing one of the 12-year-olds. The two other boys were charged with manslaughter, but the surviving 12-year-old pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death last year and was sentenced to stay in custody for 16 months, followed by eight months of intense supervision in the community and then 12 months probation.
The 13-year-old is scheduled to be back in court in July for sentencing.
"Nobody wanted this to happen. There was no plan, it was kids making poor decisions, playing with something they shouldn't be playing with and it went off and killed somebody," Blaine Beaven, the boy's lawyer, said Monday in an interview.
"Obviously they're playing with a gun, they never should be, children never should be playing with a gun and people who are intoxicated should never be using firearms. And one of them ended up getting shot."
An agreed statement of facts was presented at the 12-year-old's sentencing.
It said the boys were in a bedroom inside of the house on Matheson Drive. They had bear spray and a sawed-off rifle. All three were posing, taking photographs and videos with the firearm in an effort to appear as though they were gangsters.
"As a part of the investigation, officers seized cellphones belonging to [the boys]. [Saskatoon police] analyzed the phone data that was extracted from the cellphones. Upon review of the videos and photographs taken from that night, you see [the boys] had been drinking from a 26 oz bottle of Absolut vodka over a period of approximately three to three-and-a-half hours," it said.
"During this time you see [the boys] take turns pointing the firearm and bear spray at one another. [The 13-year-old] is seen unloading and loading ammunition into the firearm."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
10 minutes ago
- CBC
Canadians' health data at risk of being handed over to U.S. authorities, experts warn
Canadians' electronic health records need more protections to prevent foreign entities from accessing patient data, according to commentary in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "Canadian privacy law is badly outdated," said Michael Geist, law professor and Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa and co-author of the commentary. "We're now talking about decades since the last major change." Geist says electronic medical records systems from clinics and hospitals — containing patients' personal health information — are often controlled by U.S. companies. The data is encrypted and primarily stored on cloud servers in Canada, but because those are owned by American companies, they are subject to American laws. For example, Geist points out, the U.S. passed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act in 2018, which can compel companies to disclose customer information for criminal investigations, even if it's stored outside the United States. The law allows for bilateral agreements with the U.S. and other countries. Canada and the U.S. began negotiations in 2022. The companies have "Canadian laws that may say they've got to provide appropriate protections for that data," Geist said. "But they may have U.S. law that could compel them to disclose that information." Canada's laws, Geist says, have not yet found a way to respond to that. How health data could be used The CMAJ commentary says "serious privacy, security, and economic risks arise when companies in other countries hold and use Canadian data." Among them, the authors point to the potential use of that information for law enforcement surveillance, or by private companies seeking to use the data to make money. Health data is deeply personal, and ongoing Canada-U.S. political tensions may cause some to be even warier about where and how their information is stored and used, says Lorian Hardcastle, assistant professor in the law faculty and Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. "There is a compelling argument to be made to say, 'Well, you know, we just need to have this information stored in Canada and not have those dealings with American companies,'" said Hardcastle. Aside from the CLOUD Act, another concern Geist lays out is the potential for foreign companies to profit off of Canadians' health data. With the growth of AI, Geist says that data has become increasingly valuable — a tremendous pool of information that could potentially be used to generate AI algorithms. (The cloud companies say their customers own and control their own data.) "We should be the ones to benefit from that," Geist said. "We should be the ones who are entitled to appropriate privacy protections." Dr. Sheryl Spithoff, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, says these risks highlight how Canada's privacy laws fall short. "This data is patient data. It belongs to patients. That should be used for reasons that are in their interests, that bring them benefit, that don't cause harm." Tech companies respond The CMAJ commentary says three U.S. cloud companies dominate: Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Google told CBC News that "customer data belongs to our customers, not to Google Cloud." It says, like many tech companies, it gets requests from governments and courts to disclose customer information, usually as part of criminal investigations. The company says it follows a "transparent, fair, and thorough process" to respond. It didn't comment specifically about Canadian health data. "Google provides a response on a case-by-case basis, taking into account different circumstances and informed by legal requirements, customer agreements, and privacy policies," it said. "We are committed to protecting privacy while also complying with applicable laws." Microsoft said that in the second half of 2022, of the nearly 5,000 demands for "consumer data" it received from U.S. law enforcement, 53 warrants sought content stored outside of the U.S. "Microsoft's compliance team reviews government demands for customer data to ensure the requests are valid, rejects those that are not valid, and only provides the data specified in the legal order." Amazon said it "does not disclose customer information in response to government demands unless we're required to do so to comply with a legally valid and binding order." In a statement, a spokesperson for Amazon Web Services wrote "there have been no data requests to AWS that resulted in disclosure to the U.S. government of enterprise or government content data stored outside the U.S. since we started reporting the statistic." Limits to Canada's privacy laws Privacy experts say the failure of Canada's privacy laws to keep pace with changing technology has put the country's data sovereignty at risk. Geist says strengthening provincial laws and the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, known as PIPEDA, could help create a guardrail against potential U.S. data requests reaching into Canada. In his commentary, Geist calls for "stronger penalties for unauthorized disclosure of personal information without consent and guidance that foreign court orders related to Canadian data are unenforceable in Canada." Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada says PIPEDA applies when transferring data across the border, but Geist says the law itself isn't robust enough. Geist also calls for the country to develop Canadian cloud servers for health data, and to ensure that data is hosted on Canadian soil. The wealth of health information generated by the health-care system should stay in Canada and benefit Canadians, Geist says. He and his co-authors see the potential for health AI algorithms to be developed in Canada by Canadian companies, with robust safeguards, to support health-care decisions "based on data representative of Canada's population."
CBC
10 minutes ago
- CBC
Top army commander says 'completely unacceptable' behaviour is eroding trust in the Canadian Forces
The credibility and reputation of the Canadian Army is once again being questioned following an investigation into alleged extremist activities involving soldiers in Quebec and revelations of inappropriate social media posts by members of an Ottawa-based reserve unit, the country's army commander acknowledged Wednesday. Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright said in an interview with CBC News that the recent twin controversies are eroding the trust the military has worked to regain following the high-profile sexual misconduct scandal, which saw the resignation or retirement of a number of high-profile leaders. The military as a whole is on the cusp of a major re-armament program and is desperately trying to recruit and retain troops after years of underfunding and thinning ranks. "I need the confidence of the government. I need the confidence of Canadians that we are an institution that they can trust," Wright said. "What really makes me angry, makes me livid, something I probably shouldn't say on CBC, but pisses me off, is that the important work that the Canadian Army needs to do to modernize — our eye is being taken off that … so we can deal with completely unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour." The RCMP have charged four men, including two CAF members and one former member, of amassing a trove of weapons and explosives and being part of an extremist plot to take over land near Quebec City. WATCH | CAF members charged in alleged extremist plot to seize land: RCMP says active members of Canadian military charged in terrorism plot 23 days ago Separately, a set of investigations are underway, including a military police probe, over a now-defunct Facebook group where members of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Duke of Edinburgh's Own) allegedly posted hateful and inappropriate content. Faced with a series of allegations and cases of extremism in the ranks during the run-up to the pandemic, the army, under its former commander, the now-retired general Wayne Eyre, introduced a series of policy changes meant to crack down on racism and hateful conduct in the ranks. Among the provisions was a demand that soldiers call-out inappropriate behaviour when they see it. Concern about the contents of the Blue Hackle Mafia Facebook group, which included hateful comments directed toward women, derogatory sexual comments about former prime minister Justin Trudeau, as well as discussions about raping grandmothers, were first brought to light internally last year. The private social media page has existed for more than a dozen years. 'Disturbing' that soldiers didn't call out behaviour "That's most disturbing to me," said Wright. "I'm asking soldiers to be prepared to ultimately … have the courage to go into combat. There are some who did not have the moral courage to step forward and call out inappropriate behaviour when they saw it." Wright ordered the temporary removal of Lt.-Col. Ryan Hendy, the commanding officer of the Camerons, after the Ottawa Citizen approached the army with screenshots of the social media site. It was revealed on Monday that Hendy's immediate superior, Col. James McKay, stepped down from command over his handling of the matter. Wright, who has previously said he was unaware of the social media site until alerted by the media, denied the unit commander was being made a scapegoat. "I have not hung Lieutenant-Colonel Hendy out to dry," he said. "We made a decision to temporarily remove him from command. He is being given due process and we will then determine his future as the commanding officer of the Camerons." Fresh questions about lack of investigation But there are fresh questions being raised about how seriously allegations of inappropriate conduct were being taken by military police. Retired Lt.-Col. Rory Fowler, a former military lawyer now in private practice, has been retained by Hendy. He says military police received two complaints about the content of the Facebook group — one a referral from his client, the other from a whistleblower. WATCH | Ottawa officer suspended as army investigates 'Blue Hackle Mafia' Facebook group: "Lieutenant-Colonel Hendy received a complaint back in December of 2024. He received the complaint, he consulted with his brigade commander, and within a week, the two of them had referred the complaint to the military police, which was the appropriate investigative agency," said Fowler. "Three months later, the military police kicked it back to Lieutenant-Colonel Hendy, indicating that they were not going to investigate and that they didn't have anything to investigate with respect to the complaint." In March of this year, Hendy initiated an internal disciplinary investigation. The Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, which oversees the military police, refused to discuss why the matter was referred back to the Cameron Highlanders for investigation even though the optics of a unit investigating itself are troubling. "Details regarding the complainant or the origin of the complaint cannot be disclosed in order to protect the integrity of the investigation," said a statement from the defence department. Military police reopen case Military police have re-opened the case, saying there's new information. "Lieutenant-Colonel Hendy did his job when the military police refused to do theirs," said Fowler, who added that he wondered what sort of investigation, if any, took place in the three months the provost marshal had the initial complaints. "My concern is the military police came back and said, 'There's no service offence to investigate.' How would they know that unless they investigated?" Fowler asked. The social media also contained a series of lewd photos. Fowler says there are existing provisions under the National Defence Act, notably Section 129, to punish soldiers for breaches of discipline and good conduct. "I have to admit I'm utterly flabbergasted that they thought that there was nothing for them to investigate," he said.
CBC
10 minutes ago
- CBC
Man dead as Ontario police watchdog investigate officer-involved shooting in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Ontario's police watchdog is investigating after a provincial police officer shot someone in Niagara Falls, Ont., Wednesday morning. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says a man was pronounced dead in hospital after the shooting. As of publication, the SIU had not specified if the man was the person the officer shot. According to a social media post by the SIU — which scrutinizes police interactions that involve a death, serious injury or sexual assault — the shooting involved members of the Ontario Provincial Police's Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Unit. The shooting occurred outside near Stanley Avenue and Peer Lane, SIU spokesperson Kristy Denette told CBC Hamilton in an email Wednesday afternoon. She said she was on the scene and would be sharing more information with media. Based on a photo the unit shared on social media site X, the shooting happened near the Ramada by Wyndham hotel. In an afternoon news release, Niagara Regional Police Service said its officers responded to the shooting around 11 a.m., but were not directly involved in the incident. Early afternoon, Niagara police asked the public to avoid the area near the shooting in a post on social media site X. The intersection is bordered by hotels and a restaurant. However, "there are no on-going concerns with public safety," Niagara police said.
