The three teenagers charged with the shooting death of a five-year-old boy on the Samson Cree Nation nearly two years ago were given maximum sentences in court Friday.
The three teens were charged with manslaughter in the death of Ethan Yellowbird, 5, in July 2011 – the young boy was shot in the head as he slept.
The three accused took turns firing at a home on the Samson Cree Nation – believing a rival gang member lived there, one of those bullets hit Yellowbird inside the home.
The trio pleaded guilty to manslaughter last fall, its alleged shots by two of the accused ended up in the house, and one of them fired a shot over the house.
On Friday morning, the sentences were handed down for the three; they each received the maximum youth sentence of three years – two years in custody and one year probation.
However, the oldest, now 19, won’t serve time in custody as he received credit for time served – his sentence included six months secure custody, six months open custody and two years of conditional supervision.
The second oldest was given six months of closed custody, one year of open custody, and 18 months conditional supervision with no credit for time served or the guilty plea.
The youngest will serve one year of open custody, and two years of conditional supervision, he also received no credit for time already served.
After the sentence was handed down, the young victim’s mother said she was finally ready to move forward.
“Now I can actually start trying to heal, and move on,” Ashley Yellowbird said.
It’s also a sentence local police hope sends a message to other gang members.
“It has lessened a little bit, in the amount of people that are involved in gang activity,” RCMP Cst. Perry Cardinal said. “But it’s still there.
“But we do have a lot of kids that are trying to stay out of that.”
In addition to custody, all of the sentences came with weapons prohibitions.
In his decision, the judge said it’s still not clear who fired the shot that killed Yellowbird.
With files from Bill Fortier and The Canadian Press
