SkyTrain station shooter gets seven years for 2011 incident

A man who shot another man in the back while he was fleeing the gunman in a crowded SkyTrain station has been sentenced to seven years in jail.

Brenden Chand, 25, pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with the intent to wound Abdul Aleem Khan, 25, in the Royal Oak SkyTrain station in Burnaby on March 22, 2011.

The two men had known each other since they were young and at the time of the shooting Khan owed Chand between $3,000 and $4,000.

Chand was serving a conditional service for drug trafficking and was under a 10-year firearms ban when he shot Khan.

In imposing sentence Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan said the shooting was clearly an event planned to take advantage of Khan’s presence at the Burnaby station.

The shooting happened shortly after 5 p.m., during the rush-hour commute, and the judge said it was no moment for Chand to put so many members of the public at risk. Chand was driven up to the station in a vehicle, emerged from the vehicle to shoot Khan as he ran up some station stairs, and then fled in the vehicle, all in a matter of seconds.

Khan was shot once in the shoulder and survived. Doctors said it was too risky to remove the bullet.

“It is happenstance that Mr. Khan was not killed or that members of the public were not killed or injured,” said the judge. “It was a reckless and profoundly disturbing breach of the peace and public safety.”

The judge said there were a number of mitigating factors, including the support of Chand’s family and the community, and the fact that he pleaded guilty and that he expressed remorse.

But McEwan also noted that Chand had a lengthy record and had already had a number of second chances in the courts.

He said the brazen attack called for a strong denunciatory sentence, beyond the mandatory minimum of five years in prison for discharging a firearm.

Chand, who had little reaction to the sentence, will get 30 months off his sentence for time already served in custody.