Boy, 12, charged with manslaughter
12-YEAR-OLD in custody, charged with manslaughter in 16-year-old brother’s death
Less than 24 hours after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed, his 12-year-old brother is charged with manslaughter and possession of a prohibited weapon. Katherine Wilton reports family and neighbours who
know the boys are struggling to come to grips with what happened inside the Dorval home.
Andrew Carruthers had just returned home from walking his dog Monday night when he suspected something terrible had gone on inside his neighbour’s home in Dorval.
Police cars, an ambulance and even a fire truck were racing to the house on a quiet residential street where a “devoted mother” lived with her two sons, 16 and 12.
The 12-year-old boy had just called 911 saying that his older brother had been shot.
A short time later, police took the 12-year-old boy away in a police car. Ambulance technicians then wheeled the older boy outside on a stretcher and continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to Carruthers, who watched the drama unfold from his living room window across the street.
The 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Less than 24 hours after his death, his younger brother was taken to Youth Court and charged with manslaughter and possession of a prohibited firearm that was loaded.
Crown prosecutor MarieClaude Bourassa said she objected to the boy being released “based on the seriousness of the offences and the information that we have for now.”
Bourassa refused to identify the type of gun used in the shooting or say who owned the weapon.
However, a Montreal police spokesperson described the weapon as a “family gun.”
The 12-year-old boy, a student at St. Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire, was remanded into custody and will return to Youth Court on Friday for a bail hearing. He will be held at a youth detention centre until then.
The boy’s devastated parents, who live apart, sat on opposite sides of the courtroom during the short arraignment.
After the hearing, the 12-year-old’s mother approached her son in the prisoner’s box but was shooed away by a guard. She was told she could speak to her son in another part of the courthouse.
The 12-year-old boy, his dead brother and his family cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act because the accused is a minor.
Bourassa said the Crown wasn’t trying to send a message by filing serious charges against the youth.
“We are still investigating, but in this case, the evidence leads us to these very serious charges,” she said.
In the early stages of the investigation, Montreal police said the shooting may have been accidental.
However, after the youth’s arraignment on Tuesday afternoon, the prosecutor indicated otherwise. “At this point, obviously, because he is charged with manslaughter, it is not an accident,” she said.
“The evidence doesn’t show it was an accident.”
Police major-crime investigators questioned the boy throughout the night in the presence of one of his parents.
Carruthers and other neighbours on the street said they were shocked to learn that there had been a gun in the home.
One of the boys’ cousins told The Gazette that she had no idea there was a gun in the house. She said her deceased cousin, who was a student at Lakeside Academy in Lachine, “had a big heart and was a very loving person.”
“We are all in shock,” she said. “We think we are dreaming.”
An aunt on the father’s side of the family said she also has no idea where the gun came from.
“We are just destroyed; our lives are destroyed,” she said in a telephone interview. “The only thing I know is that he just died. He is 16 years old.”
The woman said everyone in her family hates guns.
Criminal lawyer Conrad Lord, who is not involved in this case, said he was surprised to see charges laid so quickly and pointed out it would have posed no danger to society to carry out a more thorough investigation be- fore charging anyone.
He added that youth protection could have been called in to give police a report about the family situation.
“I was expecting the prosecutor’s office and the police to at least open a wider investigation and see what type of young man he is, what type of relationships, what type of education he had,” Lord said.
“He’s at the legal limit of being able to be charged.”
“But there’s probably evidence that we don’t know that brought the police to charge him.”
The boy, if eventually found guilty, faces a maximum of three years in a detention centre. An adult would face more for manslaughter and a maximum of five years just for the weapons charge.
The chairperson of the Lester B. Pearson School Board said grief counsellors were sent to the St. Thomas High School, Lakeside Academy and an elementary school in Dorval that the younger brother had attended. “We have grief counsellors that are trained to help staff in the schools respond to the students,” said Suanne Stein Day.
Carruthers said he can’t imagine the grief the family is going through. He said their mother was devastated when she arrived home after the shooting.
“She was being held up by a friend and was then taken away to be treated for shock,” he said.
He described the mother as a devoted parent who did much for her sons. “She is one of the nicest people I have ever met,” he said. “She was always driving her boys all over the place.”
Carruthers described both boys as well behaved and polite.
“Sometimes they would ask whether we need help carrying in the groceries,” he said. “They are the kind of neighbours you would want to have.
“The whole thing is just terrible.”