A Sarnia judge started recounting the facts surrounding a case involving a young Guelph man who rode a freight train to Sarnia and tried to walk out of a store with a BB gun.
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Then he paused.
“The facts that are presented in this case are very difficult to understand. They’re weird, frankly. They’re bizarre and strange,” Justice Mark Poland said.
He also pointed out BB guns are manufactured to look like real guns and the young man, who was on drugs and has developmental issues, was lucky he was apprehended by the store manager instead of by police somewhere in the city.
“That, in fact, may well have prevented a major tragedy occurring in the circumstance of this case,” Poland said.
The Royal City man, who turned 18 about two weeks earlier, tried to buy a BB gun at Sarnia’s Princess Auto on Nov. 20, but he was denied because he didn’t have identification.
“Without a doubt a smart choice on the manager’s part,” Poland said.
The man left, but came back later that day and headed towards the exit with the weapon still in its package. He pulled out a pocketknife and started cutting it out as the manager tried to stop him from leaving. Others stepped in and restrained him until police arrived.
Officers found a small case in his backpack that held a loaded Glock-style BB gun, a pipe and three grams of meth. Police also found a second coat underneath his coat stolen from Princess Auto. He was held for bail.
In custody for about two months, he recently pleaded guilty to carrying a knife for a dangerous purpose, attempting to steal the BB gun, and breaching bail. Both lawyers asked Poland to impose a time-served sentence, which he did, but due in part to how young he is the judge also decided to add a discharge. It’s conditional on him completing two years of probation.
The first-time offender has a chance to escape the incident without having a criminal record, Poland said.
“A clean slate. You’ll be able to go through life and put this, what happened in Sarnia, behind you. The choice is yours. You have to start making good choices,” he said. “You’re not getting a second chance like this.”
The rules include a curfew, a ban on being anywhere on Quinn Drive in Sarnia and 25 hours of community service. He also has to get a job or go to school and he’s not allowed to have any barrelled instruments.
“No pellet guns. No BB guns. No airsoft guns. No paintball guns. Not even a spitball gun. Nothing,” Poland said.
Assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Jones said her office takes cases involving guns very seriously.
“Even BB guns,” she said.
Defence lawyer Ken Marley said his client, who has a series of developmental and mental health issues and was using drugs, came to Sarnia after boarding a freight train in Hamilton.
“An experience he says he’ll never repeat again. He really didn’t even know where he was going,” he said.
He also doesn’t remember everything about the altercation in the store, but has shown insight about where he needs to go in the future after spending nearly 60 days in jail, Marley said.
“This was a dark day. A dark day he’s never going to go back to,” he said. “He’s going to take steps to make sure he doesn’t go back there.”