The Crown says a teenager who shot and killed four people and injured seven others at a home and a high school in northern Saskatchewan knew exactly what he was doing.
The prosecutor told a courtroom in Meadow Lake, Sask., that the January 2016 shooting in La Loche was not a spontaneous outburst or impulsive youthful exuberance.
Court was told the teen researched school shootings online as well as what it felt like to kill someone.
The Crown said the teen ultimately knew he was outgunned by police and gave himself up at the school – a sign he knew the consequences of his actions.
READ MORE: La Loche school shooting: sentencing hearing resumes in October for teen killer
The prosecution is arguing that the teen should be sentenced as an adult after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
The teen cannot be named because he was just shy of his 18th birthday when the shootings occurred.
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Crown prosecutor Pouria Tabrizi-Reardigan told court the teen may have panicked but carried out his plan “with stark efficiency.”
The defence has argued the teen suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and should be sentenced as a youth. In June, a neuropsychologist testified for the defence that the teen had an IQ of 68, which is considered well below average.
A child psychiatrist who testified for the Crown has already said the teen did not come across as being clearly developmentally delayed or slow.
READ MORE: Administrative error cause of delay in La Loche school shooting hearing
Judge Janet McIvor has said she will hand down the sentence at a later date.
The teen could get six years of custody and four years probation if he’s sentenced as a youth, but he faces a life sentence as an adult.
Some victims have already told court that the teen should be sentenced as an adult because of the severity of his crimes.
An agreed statement of facts that was heard when the sentencing hearing started in May detailed the shooter’s murderous path from the home in La Loche to the community’s high school.
Court heard the teen first killed Dayne Fontaine, 17, and then his brother Drayden, who was 13. Dayne pleaded for his life before he was shot 11 times, including twice in the head. Drayden was shot twice.
The teen then drove to the high school, where surveillance footage captured his frightening walk through the halls, his shotgun raised, as students and staff ran in fear.
When police arrived, the shooter ran into a women’s washroom where he put his weapon down and gave himself up.
The teen said he didn’t know what he was thinking when he pulled the trigger.
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