Homeowner applauded after Alberta farm shooting
RURAL MAN FACING CHARGES
A homeowner in rural Alberta who was charged by police after shots were fired during a confrontation on his property was met with applause from about 150 supporters after he made a court appearance Friday.
Edouard Maurice, 33, faces charges of aggravated assault, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm.
RCMP south of Calgary were called to the property on Feb. 25 about a homeowner allegedly confronting two people rummaging through his vehicles.
Shots were fired and one of the suspects was later found with an arm injury and was taken to hospital.
About 150 rural landowners showed up at the courthouse in Okotoks to support Maurice as he made a brief appearance accompanied by his wife and carrying his daughter. One supporter waved a sign that read “Keep your city out of our country.“
The matter was set over until April 6.
“We would like to thank the community for the overwhelming support that they’ve given in this difficult time,” said defence lawyer Tonii Roulston.
“These are individuals who have had no interaction with the criminal justice system. This is an unfortunate and unfair position that they’ve been placed in.”
Rural crime on the Prairies has been in the spotlight recently following the acquittal of Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man who was on his property.
Many of Maurice’s supporters said it’s important to support the family since it could happen to any one of them.
“This is something that a lot more of us are going to run into if there’s not some change in our laws,” said Bill Ferguson, who lives near Vulcan
“I feel it’s ridiculous that we can’t protect our own home and family.”
Eric Johaniuk from High River said he was outraged when he heard Maurice had been charged.
“The problem is the crooks are getting nothing. It’s just a laugh. You have no right to defend yourself,” he said.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump plan to meet in May for nuclear disarmament talks, a whiplash development that would put two leaders who’ve repeatedly insulted, threatened and dismissed each other in the same room, possibly in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
It would have been an unthinkable suggestion just a few months ago, when the insults were at their peak — Trump was a “senile dotard” and Kim was “Little Rocket Man” — and the North was snapping off regular weapons tests in a dogged march toward its goal of a viable nuclear arsenal that can threaten the U.S. mainland.
Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who some believe has manoeuvred the two leaders to this position, reflected the hope and relief many here feel about the planned summit when he declared Friday that it will be a “historical milestone” that will put the denuclearization of the