On Friday morning, a Prince Albert judge was left with too many questions to release a teen from custody while he faces an attempted murder charge.
The judge said he needs a more detailed release plan if he’s going to make a decision to release the 17-year-old boy, who is accused of shooting another teen boy in the face on December 29.
The victim’s mom, Lorraine Michel, described her son Tristen’s panicked instinct to run home after he was held down and shot with a sawed-off shotgun.
“Tristen ran in, he said ‘hurry, call the ambulance, I got shot in the face.’ And they thought my son was joking around because he was holding his face,” Lorraine said. The bullet traveled through Tristen’s cheek, through his teeth, and lodged into his lung. Luckily, Tristen has recovered quickly.
However, at the time, the possibility of her son being alive after being shot in the face was impossible to grasp for Lorraine.
She recalls what police told her when she found out her son had been shot.
“I remember telling them, ‘how can somebody, what do you mean he’s alive?’ How can somebody be alive when they’re shot in the face, I thought,” Lorraine said, and police told her “’Just go straight to the hospital ma’am. Just go.’ Right then, my mind, you know, I thought I lost my son.”
With the case now going through the courts, Lorraine is following closely.
“When I first heard about him being shot, I didn’t know, everything was just going through my mind wanting to know who did this to my son. I hope justice is done for that person, whoever did that,” she said.
Defense and the Crown prosecutor requested a publication ban for the Friday morning bail hearing. They cited the 17-year-old’s right to a fair trial as the reason for the ban, which was granted.
The identity of the accused is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
One thing that was revealed is that the accused was on a condition to not have weapons at the time of the crime.
In a news release, Prince Albert Police stated that the accused was found with a firearm in his possession.
He had been previously charged in an incident that involved bear spray and an assault in Montreal Lake.
The bail hearing for the accused will continue after a more thorough report is done.
The judge decided he needs more information on what options are available to minimize the boy’s risk to the community.