Fort Good Hope man gets 7-year sentence for shooting elder

The man who shot a 73-year-old elder in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., last summer was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Alexis Taureau, 18, pleaded guilty in November to three charges related to the July 16, 2007, armed invasion in which Thomas Manual Sr. was shot and injured. Manual's wife Denise, 67, was also hurt in the incident.

The details of the incident were laid out in court Tuesday and Wednesday during Taureau's sentencing hearing in the hamlet, located 800 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife.

According to a statement of facts agreed to by Taureau's lawyers and the Crown, Taureau was drinking with friends and relatives in Fort Good Hope on July 14 when he said he wanted to kill somebody — even a family member or friend — so he could go back to jail.

Taureau, who had turned 18 years old less than a month earlier, was finishing a six-month sentence he received as a youth for two assault charges. At the time, authorities had believed it was safe to let him serve the last two months of that sentence in the community.

Two days later, shortly before 9 a.m. on July 16, a drunk Taureau broke into Thomas Manual's shed and stole a 12-gauge shotgun, a 270-calilbre rifle, ammunition and two knives, the court was told.

Taureau then broke into Manual's house and started firing a shotgun loaded with buckshot-filled shells.

Injured elder escaped with rope made of sheets

Manual, who was in the master bedroom, asked Taureau to put the gun down, only to be shot in the stomach and neck, according to the statement of facts.

The injured elder, his wife and their three grandchildren barricaded themselves in the bedroom as Taureau shot at the doorknob to the room.

Manual then made a rope out of bed sheets and shirts and helped his grandchildren, aged eight to 18 years old, escape from the house.

His wife fell out of the window while trying to escape, injuring her back and breaking her wrist.

With Taureau still firing his gun, Manual made his way out of the house and helped his wife to her feet, the court was told.

At that point, Taureau ran outside and shot Manual in the face. Taureau then fled on foot, only to be found by RCMP behind the local nursing station, where Manual went to seek treatment for his injuries. Taureau surrendered to police at that time, court was told.

Thomas and Denise Manual were sent to hospitals in Yellowknife and Edmonton. The court was told that Thomas Manual had about 23 shotgun pellets embedded in his body, including two that damaged his left eye.

Both elders have since recovered and returned to their home in Fort Good Hope, but the court was told that both suffer from anxiety and other psychological impacts as a result of Taureau's actions.