A psychiatrist has testified that a teen guilty of shooting and killing four people and wounding seven others in La Loche, Sask., was not developmentally delayed.
Dr. Declan Quinn conducted the court-ordered psychiatric assessment of the now 19-year-old teen, who cannot be named as he was a youth at the time of the shootings.
READ MORE: La Loche school shooting: what we’ve already learned at the sentencing hearing
“He did not stand out to me as being developmentally delayed,” Quinn said in court on Tuesday as the sentencing hearing resumed.
He went on to describe the shooter as a “sad, unhappy man who had the features of an attentional disorder.”
The shooting happened in January 2016 at a home and the high school in the northern Saskatchewan community.
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The teen has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
The sentencing hearing underway in Meadow Lake courtroom is to determine whether the teen should be sentenced as an adult or a youth.
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During his testimony Quinn said that he determined the teen’s cognitive and intellectual skills were in the normal range, based on his behavior and how he answered questions during his four visits with the teen, which were carried out 11 months after the shooting.
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He also testified that the teen did not appear to be suicidal and was on anti-depressants during the assessment.
During the May sentencing hearing, court heard that the teen had researched school shootings on the Internet.
Quinn said the shooter had made a number of online searches for past school shootings and was particularly interested in American school shootings, which “very much could have been a contributing factor” to the teen’s desire to carry out the act.
When the teen was questioned about this interest, Quinn said the shooter didn’t want to talk about it.
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During cross-examination, Quinn said the teen had a “very positive perception” toward the education program at Kilburn Hall, which Quinn found encouraging.
Quinn had earlier testified that the youth had a “terrible attitude” towards school and preferred to attend classes at Kilburn Hall.
Defence lawyer Aaron Fox noted that the youth had a difficult time staying on task, paying attention and getting assignments done, dating back to elementary school.
READ MORE: La Loche school shooting: teen told police he had regrets about the shooting
Quinn acknowledged that the teen would benefit from a smaller educational environment and would do “very poorly” in a large classroom setting.
He also stated that if the shooter smoked two joints of marijuana daily, that would qualify as substance abuse and said the use of marijuana “in teenage years is not good news.”
Quinn concluded his testimony by saying the teen will need to learn social, academic and work skills over the next ten years in order to succeed.
The Crown is expected to call two more witnesses before the defence calls witnesses to testify at the sentencing hearing.
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