Teen charged in shooting of tourist
CALGARY• A 16- year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of a German tourist on a southern Alberta highway.
The boy is facing 13 additional charges, including possession of a prohibited weapon and discharging a firearm.
RCMP arrested the boy, who can’t be named, on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation on Friday and seized a gun. Police only released news of the arrest on Tuesday.
“Investigators have located and seized the vehicle and the firearm which are both believed to have been involved in this offence,” said RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters.
The shooting happened on Aug. 2 as the German man, identified in court documents as Horst Stewin, was driving on Highway 1A in a Dodge Durango with his wife, son and his son’s girlfriend near Morley on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
Police say a black sedan pulled alongside the Durango and someone in the sedan opened fire, striking Stewin in the head and causing him to veer off the road before crashing into a stand of trees.
The man underwent surgery after being airlifted to hospital and police said he may suffer long-term or permanent effects “as a result of the trauma.”
The bullet that was removed by surgeons will be sent for forensic testing.
Stewin and his family were flown home to Germany days after the shooting.
He has “very long road to recovery” ahead, Peters said.
He said Stewin will require “extensive amount of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.”
Police said Stewin and the alleged shooter did not know each other.
“It has been a high-profile case. Everyone wants justice for something like this,” he said.
The teen made a brief first appearance in Cochrane provincial court Tuesday afternoon, represented by high-profile Calgary criminal lawyer Alain Hepner.
At one point he scanned the courtroom and found his mother, smiling and waving briefly before turning his gaze down again.
Outside court Hepner said his client is emotional about being in custody facing such serious charges.
“He drops his head a lot which is a sign of being really upset and I don’t think he understands what’s going on,” he said.
“Being 16 years old I just don’t think he has a full comprehension of the process.”
He said while the family would like to see the teen released on bail he’ll have to discuss the issue with the Crown.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act the maximum penalty the teen could face on the charges laid is three years, consisting of two in custody and a year of community supervision.
Mounties said there was another person in the shooter’s vehicle, but Peters said no one else is considered a suspect.