Teen sentenced to three years custody in 2024 gang shooting

A Winnipeg teen has been sentenced to three years custody and community supervision for his part in the shooting death of another teen outside a North End drug house.

The 16-year-old victim was shot dead on Oct. 5 last year, after crossing paths with three teens in the 500 block of Boyd Avenue.

The 16-year-old offender in court Tuesday previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing.

Court heard the teen and his two co-accused were headed to the drug house intent on revenge after shots were fired earlier that evening at their gang drug house on Redwood Avenue.

While the teen in court Tuesday was unarmed and did not fire the gun that killed the victim, he “still bears responsibility for the killing due to his willingness to join the two other co-accused in the plan to retaliate against a rival gang and inflict harm on others,” said provincial court Judge Lindy Choy.

At the time of the shooting, two street gangs — one operating out of a drug house on the 500 block of Redwood Avenue, the other out of a house on the 500 block of Boyd Avenue — “were involved in a dispute over the sale of drugs in the area; both groups vying for the same customers,” says an agreed statement of facts previously provided to court.

The three co-accused were at the Redwood drug house when shots were fired at the kitchen window.

The three accused left the house hours later, bound for the Boyd Avenue drug house and “intent on retaliation.”

At the same time, the victim and four female friends arrived by taxi outside the Boyd Avenue house.

The victim entered the house for a short time before returning to the taxi, at which time the adult accused opened a rear door of the vehicle and greeted one of the female passengers.

After a brief discussion, the taxi drove off and the victim asked his friends who the males were.

The victim appeared to recognize the name of one of the males and “demanded that the driver turn the taxi around and drive back as the girls begged him not to,” says the agreed statement of facts.

The victim exited the cab and approached the three accused as they neared the target drug house.

The adult accused, “believing (the victim) was armed with a firearm,” fired three shots, one of which “nicked” the victim’s aorta before exiting through his lung, Koffman said.

The teen was pronounced dead at hospital less than an hour later.

Crown attorney Jodi Koffman and defence lawyer Jesse Blackman both previously recommended the teen in court Tuesday serve his three-year sentence under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order.

The IRCS program allows youth participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring and other specialized services at a cost of $100,000 a year.

Court has heard the teen has no prior record, an approximate IQ of 70 and a background of family dysfunction, including a father who is serving a life sentence for murder. The teen has been in and out of foster care as his mother struggles with drug addiction.

Koffman recommended the teen — who has been in custody since his arrest shortly after the killing — serve an additional seven months in custody, with the balance of the sentence to be served under conditional supervision in the community.

Blackman urged Choy to allow the teen to serve his entire sentence under conditional supervision, saying plans are being made for him to stay in a residential placement for teens transitioning out of foster care.

Choy ordered that the teen serve another five months in custody, with the balance of the sentence to be served under conditional supervision in the community.

“In my view, nothing other than an additional period of custody would be sufficiently proportionate to hold (him) accountable and be a consequence that is meaningful,” Choy said. “(He) was a willing participant in a planned gang retaliation where someone was shot and killed.”

The teen’s 16-year-old co-accused was sentenced earlier this month to an additional two years, with eight months to be served in custody and 16 months under conditional supervision in the community. He, too, is serving his sentence under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order.

Devin Evans, the alleged shooter, has been charged with second-degree murder and is set to stand trial next year.

dean.pritchard@reepress.mb.ca