http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500284202-500447768-502913651-0,00.html

Eight-year-old Canadian boy won't be charged in shooting

The Associated Press

LYTTON, Quebec (November 27, 2000 9:37 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - An 8-year-old boy who police believe used his father's high-powered rifle to shoot a neighbor who was out chopping wood cannot be charged with a crime under Canadian law.

The shooting Sunday in southwestern Quebec left Jean-Guy Roy, 64, hospitalized in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to the left shoulder.

"It was clear that this was not accidental," police Const. Pierre Robichaud said. "The boy took the rifle, he loaded the rifle and he shot at the man."

Under Canadian law, the boy is too young to be charged with a crime and cannot be identified, Robichaud said.

"We still don't understand what will happen," said Mark Roy, the victim's son. "It's very difficult for us."

Robichaud said police might charge the boy's father for improperly storing his .270-caliber rifle, a high-powered weapon used for big-game hunting. He said the boy confessed after police had questioned his father.

-- gunsdon'tkillpeopledo (ye@h.sure), November 28, 2000

Answers

The gun should have been unloaded or kept loaded and locked up. Sounds like though as mad as this kid was at this guy he probably would haven't pitchforked him if he could have found one!

-- Boswell (fundown@thefarm.net), November 29, 2000.

Hey, Bos...the gun WAS "unloaded":

"The boy took the rifle, he loaded the rifle and he shot at the man."

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), November 30, 2000.

Bos, the kid's gonna come out of jail as a lockstep rule hater, lockstep authority hater and if he ever bothers, a lockstep lib voter. What you're saying doesn't help.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), November 30, 2000.

Boswell,

Sounds like though as mad as this kid was at this guy....

Not one word in this article says the kid was mad at (angry with) the neighbour.

Carlos,

Bos, the kid's gonna come out of jail as a lockstep rule hater, lockstep authority hater and if he ever bothers, a lockstep lib voter.

This kid will never go to jail for this particular shooting. But, I agree that no matter what happens to him in the present, he is most likely a risk for the future. What does "lockstep lib" mean?

I posted this article because the rifle was supposedly a hunting rifle that rural Canadian gun owners do not want to have to register because "they're not the criminals." Yet, how criminal is it to leave a gun and ammo lying around where any kid can access and use it?

-- (ye@h.sure), December 01, 2000.

http://www. canoe.ca/CNEWSLaw0012/01_shooting-sun.html

Friday, December 1, 2000

No school for shooter Removal follows fury

By ANDREW SEYMOUR and NATHALIE TREPANIER -- Ottawa Sun

OTTAWA -- An eight-year-old Quebec boy who shot and critically wounded a neighbour was pulled from his grade-school classes yesterday after bragging to other students about the shooting.

The boy was removed from classes yesterday morning when parents in the small communities surrounding Lytton, Que., expressed outrage over his return three days after shooting 64-year-old Jean-Guy Roy twice with a high-powered rifle and bragging about it to curious classmates.

A RIGHT

"People have a right to ask questions," said Luc Cadieux, director of the Youth Protection Bureau in the Outaouais.

According to Cadieux, several complaints have been filed with the school board and with the agency.

"It was a very serious act that inspired some serious responses," said Cadieux.

Relatives of Roy -- who remained in critical condition at the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus -- expressed outrage the boy was allowed back to school and back with his parents.

"How can you evaluate in two days if a kid is fit to go back to school after what he has done?" asked Maurice Roy, who is the victim's brother and mayor of the town where the shooting occurred.

"I think the return to normal life was too fast," said Roy, who had many anxious and angry parents call him yesterday after they learned the boy had been back at school.

'LIKE A HERO'

Roy was especially upset when he learned from a school bus driver the boy was treated "like a hero" by the other children.

"The idea is not to make him a hero," said Cadieux.

He said the best environment for the child is at school, adding parents of other children had nothing to fear.

"There is nothing to fear ... according to our evaluation."

-- (ye@ah.sure), December 01, 2000.