A Fort Smith man found guilty of second-degree murder has been given the maximum sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The maximum sentence is seven years, four of which are to be spent in custody. The other three will be under community supervision.
During a March 2022 rampage, Fort Smith faced a community-wide lockdown and an RCMP investigation that took days.
According to an agreed statement of facts by lawyers on both sides, the man, now 19 but 17 at the time, broke into a garage and stole some screwdrivers. He then broke into another garage and used those screwdrivers to open some gun safes.
The young offender then broke into another garage on Primrose Lane, where the owner, Jordan Tourangeau, was inside. The youth shot Tourangeau and fled, breaking into a government building. There, he stole firearms, ammunition and keys to a car. He loaded the guns into one of the vehicles and drove off.
Tourangeau died as a result.
He later drove by a home. Inside were two adults and two children. He fired shots at the house but no one was hit, according to the statement of facts.
The man then drove toward Fort Fitzgerald, Alta., but eventually turned around, returning to Fort Smith.
The murderer — now legally an adult, but who cannot be identified publicly due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act — sat in Yellowknife Supreme Court on April 24. A television screen in the front of the courtroom showed a packed court house in Fort Smith as residents there wanted to know the outcome of the sentencing.
The offender offered an apology on Wednesday through a statement read by his lawyer, Robin Parker.
“I am very sorry,” his apology stated.
In it, the murderer also apologized to the community of Fort Smith and for how long its taken him to finally provide an apology.
He also said that he pleaded guilty to take responsibility and show that what he did was wrong.
Crown prosecutor Duane Praught was in court in Fort Smith. He said the threat to public safety in the future remains high, as the man has yet to put in the work needed to rehabilitate.
“He must be separated from society,” he said.