Saskatoon

La Loche shooter asked for gift to mark anniversary of shooting that killed 4

A teen gunman who killed four people in northern Saskatchewan wanted a gift to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting.

Corrections worker testifies at shooter's sentencing hearing

Members of the RCMP stand outside the La Loche Community School in La Loche, Sask. Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, just a few days after a then 17-year-old went on a shooting rampage in the building. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

A teen gunman who killed four people in northern Saskatchewan wanted a gift to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting.

Brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine were shot at their home in La Loche in January 2016, before the teen killed a teacher and a teacher's aide and wounded seven others at the high school.

The teen, who can't be named, pleaded guilty and a sentencing hearing is underway in Meadow Lake, Sask., to determine whether he should serve time as a youth or an adult.

A pre-sentence report tabled in court details how the teen asked staff at the Saskatoon youth detention facility whether they would be buying him a gift on the anniversary of the shooting.

Corrections worker Tanis Fidler told court that if the teen hears about a mass shooting or a terrorist attack, he "often talks about it with a smile."

The Crown is expected to call more witnesses Friday, and then the hearing will be adjourned until June, when the defence is to present its case.

Court has already been shown a videotaped police interview with the teen in which he says he didn't plan to shoot the two brothers.

The teen told officers his plan was to go to the school and shoot some kids.

Defence lawyer Aaron Fox says the video shows that his client has some cognitive, social and developmental issues.

Some victims have already told the court that the teen should be sentenced as an adult because of the crime's severity.

But Dayne and Drayden's mother, Alicia Fontaine, told court Thursday that if it were up to her, she would not press charges in the deaths of her sons.

She said the teen gunman called her two days after the shooting to apologize and she forgave him.