Murder charge stayed in Regina home invasion

Man found to have acted in self-defence, pleads guilty to other offences instead

REGINA In May, several people rushed a house in Regina with the intention of getting their hands on a semi-automatic firearm being kept there.

Instead, one of them ended up dead at the hands of a man wielding that very gun.

Brent Stacee Creely, 26, was originally charged with second-degree murder as a result. But earlier this week, the Crown stayed that charge, having determined he acted in self-defence when he fatally shot Shawn Robert Coghill, 35.

Creely instead pleaded guilty to a range of other offences related to the May 23 incident, including possession of firearm contrary to a court order; possession of that weapon without a licence; using the gun in a careless manner; and possession of a prohibited device (an overcapacity magazine). He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge from August for assaulting a corrections officer by threatening him with a homemade knife.

Crown prosecutor David Belanger told the court Creely was subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition — the result of an aggravated assault sentence from 2014 — at the time of the May incident.

Creely was staying in the basement of a house on the 1100 block of Retallack Street while he and another man sold drugs. Creely became aware a man — not Coghill — had threatened to come armed to get the gun in Creely’s possession. Creely responded he would “die to protect that house.”

Court heard Coghill was one of a number of people who broke into the main level of the bungalow at about 1:30 a.m. on the May date.

Hearing the commotion, Creely grabbed his gun.

Court heard Coghill also was armed, carrying a loaded .22-calibre handgun as he made his way down the stairs to Creely’s suite.

Belanger said when Creely saw the handgun, he fired two shots, one of which struck the other man. Hearing people outside asking someone to open the door for them, Creely fired another round. That one passed through the steel door and ended up going through the door of the adjacent home where the neighbours were sleeping. All the intruders, save Coghill, fled.

Seeing Coghill gravely injured, Creely asked another person at the house to call 911. He then unloaded his gun, placed it in plain view and turned himself over to police as soon as they arrived, confessing what he’d done to the first officer he encountered. He has been in custody since.

Coghill died at the scene of a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

His family did not file victim impact statements.

Defence lawyer Bruce Campbell said his client was visibly upset from the start and “angry with himself and the whole situation.”

“This has had a deep effect on him,” Campbell told the court, adding Creely intends to leave the province once out of custody to help him turn his life around.

Judge Carol Snell agreed to impose the jointly requested 5½-year sentence (four years, eight months after remand credit), while urging Creely to change his ways.

“Nothing good ever comes when people involve themselves with loaded firearms, and this is a tragic example of exactly what almost is bound to happen,” she said.

Creely took the opportunity to offer an apology to Coghill’s family, saying, “If I could change it, I would.”