Bre McAdam
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
An argument between two Saskatoon men at a home in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood continued outside, and ended with a fatal shooting.
Shane Thomas admits firing his rifle at Damien Cedric Sanderson just before 7 a.m. on June 14, 2023, according to an agreed statement of facts read out at his sentencing hearing in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday.
Sanderson, a 35-year-old father, died after being hit in the chest while standing in front of a home in the 200 block of Avenue S South.
Thomas said he shot Sanderson after Sanderson pulled out a gun and tried to fire at him, court heard.
Thomas, 26, was charged with second-degree murder. Prosecutor Oryn Holm said the Crown accepted a guilty plea to the lesser included offence of manslaughter, noting the lack of dependable witness statements and possibility of self-defence if the case had gone to trial.
His guilty plea helps fill in the gaps of what happened that day, Holm told court, adding “A clear narrative was quite hard to come by.”
According to the facts, Sanderson was dating Thomas’s ex-girlfriend. Thomas was drunk, high and armed with a rifle when he went to 214 Avenue S South for a drug deal, knowing his ex would be there.
Once inside, Thomas got into a fight with Sanderson, Levi McAdam and Kory Schulz. He said he could hear the three men yelling at him from across the street as he left the house.
“Mr. Sanderson had a rifle, and Mr. Thomas indicated that Mr. Sanderson pointed the rifle at him and pulled the trigger, but then stopped aiming and started to work the action of the firearm, which suggested to Mr. Thomas the gun was not loaded properly,” the facts state.
Later that day, police arrested Thomas after tracking his cellphone to a Confederation Drive apartment. Court heard McAdam refused to give a police statement, and Schulz recanted his statement, which had implicated Thomas in the shooting.
Justice Mona Dovell sentenced Thomas to a nine-year prison term after accepting a joint submission from the Crown and defence. He has six and a half years left to serve after getting an enhanced credit for his time spent on remand.
Holm said while Sanderson had a tough life, this crime “isn’t his entire story.”
In a victim impact statement read in court, one of Sanderson’s brothers said he was adopted as a child and met Sanderson when he was 18 years old.
He described his protective older brother as a close friend throughout their twenties before they briefly stopped talking to each other. That period of separation led to “crippling guilt” after he realized he’d never see his brother again, he wrote.
“He was full of life, kindness and potential,” Sanderson’s aunt said through tears.
Defence lawyer Blaine Beaven said his client lacked parental guidance his entire life. He was a gang member, but isn’t anymore; his mother struggled with alcohol and died while he was in custody, court heard.
Beaven said Thomas has a relationship with his siblings, who were all raised in different families, but no family members were in court for his sentencing.
“I’m really sorry for what I did. I’m going to try and change my life around,” Thomas told Sanderson’s family members.
