A person walks past the Provincial Court of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Jan. 16.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – A man who told police he was “joking around” with his girlfriend when he fatally shot her in the head has been sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter with an additional six months for possessing a rifle without a licence.
The British Columbia provincial court decision in Vancouver says Trevor Brown was 18 when he shot Anichka Loeffler, who was also 18, in November, 2020.
The decision issued this week says Ms. Loeffler was struck in the head by a bullet discharged from an unlicensed semi-automatic .22-calibre rifle in the bedroom of the home where Mr. Brown was living with his mother and grandmother.
The decision says Mr. Brown initially told police that Ms. Loeffler had shot herself accidentally while the pair were smoking marijuana and playing around with the gun, but he later admitted he “only pointed the gun at her head for a split second.”
It says Mr. Brown’s mother told police she heard the sound of a shot and when she went to check what had happened, Mr. Brown said he “thought the safety was on.”
The sentencing follows Mr. Brown’s guilty pleas in May to charges of manslaughter, unlawfully possessing and pointing the gun at his girlfriend and using it carelessly.
The decision by Justice Gregory Rideout outlines some mitigating factors, including Mr. Brown’s young age, lack of criminal record and family support.
But the judge found Mr. Brown’s actions were aggravating, including failing to determine whether the rifle’s safety was on, or if the gun was loaded before he pointed it at his girlfriend’s head and pulled the trigger.
“I do not find he exercised a momentary inadvertence or lapse of judgment. Rather, I find there were a chain of inherently dangerous actions and careless conduct that resulted in [Loeffler’s] death,” Justice Rideout says in the decision.
Justice Rideout also notes Mr. Brown “initially placed the blame” on Ms. Loeffler.
A pathologist later determined there was no evidence of close-range firing as there was no indication of gunshot or powder burns on her body, the decision says.
The judge also sentenced Mr. Brown to six months to be served concurrently for the remaining two offences related to his use of the rifle.
The decision says Mr. Brown admitted the .22-calibre rifle belonged to a friend who he refused to name, and he’d had it in his possession for about six months.
Mr. Brown has been handed a lifetime weapons prohibition and he’s barred from contacting several members of Ms. Loeffler’s family.