Man sentenced to time served for pellet gun incident

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2021 (1710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man was sentenced to time served in jail after he pleaded guilty to shooting at a car with a pellet gun, but a judge warned him he would be facing much more time in jail if the gun was real.

Fernando Tanner, 34, was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to firing at a relative’s car with an airsoft gun after an argument in December 2018.

According to a presetence report prepared for Tanner, at approximately 3 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2018 a woman arrived at the Waywayseecappo Manitoba First Nations Police Service detachment visibly shaken and upset.

She told police Tanner had shot at her car with what she believed was a rifle. The victim described the firearm as three-to-four feet long and light brown, which she saw Tanner pointing at her in her rearview mirror.

Police took photos of two holes from a pellet gun in the rear passenger-side tail light of the vehicle.

Officers went on patrol and found Tanner lying in the centre of the road. He appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and officers had to help him get up, the report says.

While in the back of the police cruiser Tanner became agitated and started hitting the divider between the front and back seat.

In a statement to police, the victim said she originally went to the residence to drop off some Christmas presents, when she ran into Tanner, who was under the influence of something. He wanted to talk to her about his children, but the woman told police she doesn’t like being around him when he is intoxicated.

Tanner then started getting angry and swearing at her, so she got into her car and drove away, the presentence report reads.

While driving away Tanner shot at the car with the pellet gun and the victim said she heard the “bing” from his shots. She told police she feared for her safety at the time.

Crown attorney Deidre Badcock suggested a six-month jail sentence for the incident, which she said is at the low-end for the offence. She said it appears Tanner has a bad attitude about his offending as he tried to minimize the incident in the pre-sentence report.

“Firearms are a problem in the Westman area, they are too easily accessible on the streets and people … feel they need to discharge and really give no thought to it. The court needs to send a message that if you have a firearm you have to have it in a lawful manner and cannot use it in a way Mr. Tanner did here today,” she said.

Defence counsel Anthony Dawson said Tanner has a problem with alcohol and is making an effort to address his addiction. He also took part in an anti-aggression program while in jail and knows he can’t act on his impulses when he is released.

Tanner had a difficult childhood and has Gladue factors, said Dawson, and was abused by both his parents. Both sets of his grandparents also attended residential schools, which left them with longstanding trauma.

Dawson suggested a suspended sentence for the offences, arguing more time in jail is not the right punishment for the accused.

Judge Donovan Dvorak called the situation “very serious” and there was clear potential for harm even though Tanner shot at the vehicle with a pellet gun.

“The sentence can’t be the same in relation to a pellet gun as it would be to a high-powered rifle because the potential for injury is not the same. Having said that, if you were shooting at the vehicle with a high-powered rifle as it was driving away you would be going to the (penitentiary),” he said.

Dvorak sentenced Tanner to 155 days time already served in jail, which amounts to approximately five months.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_