Big River FN man guilty of series of assaults with sawed-off shotgun

Her husband and all five of her children were in a bedroom together when Whitefish and the passenger approached. The witness said she thought he planned to come in by force so she opened a window to talk to him. She heard Whitefish yelling something about a drop off at her house and assumed he was talking about illegal drugs.

She told him there was nothing inside and that he was at the wrong place, which angered him.

Whitefish walked back to his truck, grabbed a gun from the backseat then returned, pulling a scarf up over his face.

He pointed a sawed-off shotgun where she was standing in the window, but then recognized her and apologized. While walking away, he turned back to tell her that if she called police, he would come after her and her family.

Several hours later at about 11 am, police received a 911 call that a person had been shot at a residence in Big River. RCMP responded as did two paramedics.

A police constable testified that he was told the victim had shot himself. The caller never gave their name.

Paramedics found the victim lying on the ground outside the house, very pale and covered with a blanket. He had a large gunshot wound to his right calf. The wound was about 10 inches by four inches, and his leg had extensive damage.

His condition was serious, but a tourniquet had slowed the bleeding. He was taken to Shellbrook hospital then to Saskatoon for treatment.

During his investigation, the officer noted a 25-foot-long trail of blood to a makeshift structure behind the house, but he did not find a gun or any shells.

During his reluctant testimony, the shooting victim said he had been living in the structure.

He and Whitefish had been in an argument before the shooting over a dirt bike. The victim had agreed to sell Whitefish the dirt bike for some drugs and some cash but it had a flat tire and needed to be hauled away.

Someone stole it before Whitefish could pick it up but he did not believe the victim when he told him the story.

They argued but had parted ways when Whitefish turned back around and began shooting what the victim described as a shotgun, two or three feet in length.

One shot hit the victim in the leg.

Both of the victims reported that Whitefish had been driving a black pickup with a broken back window that was taped up.

At noon the following day, Whitefish was in a third altercation at his uncle’s residence.

The uncle heard a commotion outside and went to see what was happening as there were children playing outside. He saw his nephew in an argument with another relative and told him to leave.

Whitefish became angry and went to the vehicle he had been in and got a gun from the driver’s seat.

The uncle was familiar with weapons and testified that it was a sawed-off shotgun and that his nephew pointed it at him from about 20 feet away.

He turned and ran back inside, yelling at the children in the yard to also run and hide.

Schiefner convicted Whitefish of multiple charges connected with three incidents but did not find him guilty in connection with a fourth. That involved an RCMP officer’s testimony that he had scene Whitefish driving but he evaded police and abandoned the truck when it became hung up on a mound of dirt at the edge of the community.

He did not think the officer would have had time to recognize that the driver was Whitefish.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 3 in Prince Albert Provincial Court.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Big River FN man guilty of series of assaults with sawed-off shotgun

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