GANG MEMBER GETS NINE YEARS FOR ‘RED SHIRT’ KILLING

A Regina judge has sentenced a gang member to nine years for killing a man because of the colour of his shirt. Skylar Alexson, 23, pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter in the stabbing death of Joshua Harden, 26, as part of a deal between Crown and defence attorneys in which charges were reduced to manslaughter from second-degree murder. Harden was drunk and looking for his girlfriend when he mistakenly approached Alexson’s house. Alexson saw Harden was wearing a red shirt, a colour he associated with a rival gang, and chased Harden, stabbing him in the back. Crown prosecutor Sonya Guiboche called it “vicious” and “tragic.” Defence attorney Jeff Deagle said Alexson had been using drugs that night and remembers little about what happened.