Scout leader gets house arrest for shooting boy
A former Scouts Canada leader who admitted to shooting one of his young troop members with a pellet gun has been ordered to serve a six-month communitybased sentence.
Todd Russell Robertson, 49, was sentenced Dec. 13 after admitting to shooting one of the seven youths in his charge during a July 2016 weekend fundraiser and firearms competition in Calgary.
According to an agreed statement of facts cited in provincial court Judge Allan Fradsham’s reasons for sentencing filed earlier this month, Robertson was becoming frustrated through the weekend with a 12-year-old boy who he ultimately shot four times with a pellet gun.
The boy’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
At one point, court heard, Robertson called the boy a “f---ing dumb-ass” when the youth accidentally put up a target backward.
Over the course of the weekend, Robertson’s troops befriended a competitor in the marksmanship competition who had access to pellet guns capable of shooting “peasized plastic projectiles.”
On the last night of the trip, the Scouts were gathered around a fire laughing when Robertson told them to be quiet.
The youths got loud again, and then one of the Scouts shot and hit a clay pigeon set up as a target in a field.
The boy, who Robertson was already irritated with, yelled “good job, buddy.” Robertson yelled something at the boy, who couldn’t hear him.
Then, according to the agreed statement of facts, Robertson picked up a pellet gun and, from a distance of about three metres, shot the boy four times, hitting him in the face, arms and hand.
Robertson then fired the gun at his own hand, and, upon realizing the projectiles were “actually quite painful,” ordered the gun owner to put the weapons away.
Robertson, who had volunteered with Scouts Canada for 15 years, was immediately dismissed by the organization following the shooting.
Robertson’s six-month sentence will be served in the community and he will be under house arrest except for approved outings.