La Loche school shooter who killed 4, injured 7 appealing sentence

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REGINA – A young man who shot up a school and a home in northern Saskatchewan when he was a teenager is appealing his sentence.

A judge sentenced the shooter last month to life in prison with no chance at parole for 10 years.

He was weeks away from his 18th birthday when he killed two teenage brothers at their home before he shot up the La Loche high school where a teacher and a teacher’s aide died in January 2016. Seven others in the building were injured.

Brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine, teacher Adam Wood and teacher’s aide Marie Janvier died.

He was sentenced as an adult, but can’t be named because of his appeal.

During the sentencing in May, Judge Janet McIvor called the shootings “senseless” and “coldly horrific.”

“These school shootings were planned and calculated to inflict as much damage as possible,” she told court.

The shooter pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

Court heard the shooter began formulating a plan as early as September 2015. He researched different kinds of guns and the damage they could do to people.

The night before the shootings, he did an online search asking, “What does it feel like to kill someone?”

McIvor said the shootings have had a lasting impact on the northern community. Fewer teachers are willing to work there and there has been an increase in substance abuse and suicides, the judge said.

Students in the community aren’t receiving the support they need and are being revictimized, she added.

The young man told court he can’t undo what he’s done, but he would if he could.

His motive for the shooting is still unclear. His lawyer, Aaron Fox, has said his client told him: “I ask myself that every day.”’

The young man had been imprisoned at a provincial correctional centre, but was to serve his sentence in a federal penitentiary.

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