Men sentenced for shooting in Mackenzie
Two men were sentenced Friday for their roles in a 2016 drive-by shooting in Mackenzie.
Kelly Michael Richet, 33, was sentenced to seven years in prison and Christopher Ryan Russell, 30, to six years. Less credit for time served prior to sentencing, Richet has four years and five months left to serve while Russell has three years and 11 months to go.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Patrice Abrioux agreed to a joint submission from Crown and defence counsel in issuing the sentences which were issued primarily on two counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure.
In June, Miranda Leigh Dingwall, 26, was sentenced to five years, the mandatory minimum for the offence. Less credit for time served, she had more than two years left to go at the time.
All three will serve their sentences in a federal facility.
Following a 10-day trial, Abrioux had found each of the three guilty of 11 counts related to the July 7, 2016 early-morning incident in which two men were shot at, with one suffering a wound to his calf.
According to witness testimony, a white pickup truck pulled up in front of a 200-block Crysdale Drive home in the town north of Prince George and two people got out.
One walked around the back of the truck and up to the curb, then raised a handgun and fired two to four shots at three people standing on the front lawn. All three ran towards the house but one collapsed while the shooter jumped into the pickup’s back and the other got into the cab and the truck sped off.
Images from the video surveillance camera of a restaurant looking over Mackenzie Boulevard showed a pickup truck of the same description heading north shortly before 4 a.m. and then a few moments later heading south, this time with something large in the box, possibly a person.
About 20 minutes later, a truck later determined to have been stolen from a Prince George home the day before was found alight on a logging road a short distance off Highway 39 about 20 kilometres south of the town.
Just prior to coming across the truck, a witness also saw a large SUV heading south on Highway 39.
An RCMP officer who had been called out from Prince George in answer to the call saw a SUV matching the description at a gas station in Bear Lake. As it turned out, Dingwall was driving the vehicle and Richet and Russell were with her.
RCMP also found a pass for handicapped parking from the stolen truck in her vehicle. And at the site where the truck was found on fire, glass from a broken light matching that from Dingwall’s vehicle was found.
With the help of a tracking dog, a .45 calibre semiautomatic handgun was found in the bush about 100 metres away from the burn site. Cartridges from the firearm were found at the scene of the shooting.
Because they were wearing baggy clothing, hoodies and covers over their faces, the witness was unable to provide accurate descriptions of the shooter and the accomplice. Abrioux also had problems with the way gun smoke residue found on the three was collected – he had concerns their hands may have been contaminated during the arrest.
But he also noted the three all lived in Prince George and found that on the totality of the evidence, the three had at least aided and abetted in the shooting even if possibly none had pulled the trigger and found them guilty of the counts.
Abrioux said there was a chance others may have been involved but did not speculate on the motivation for the incident.
With the help of a tracking dog, a .45 calibre semiautomatic handgun was found in the bush about 100 metres away from the burn site.