It was reported earlier this week that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has contributed to an online fundraiser for Edouard Maurice, a farmer living near Okotoks who wounded a burglar on his property in February of last year. Maurice had, one early morning, been awakened by his dogs and surprised two thieves rummaging through a vehicle. Penny-ante property crime of this sort has reached toxic levels in rural Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Maurice told the burglars, a man and a woman, to go away. They ignored him. Knowing that police might take hours to respond to any call, he fired two “warning shots” in their general direction. The pair fled. Being none the wiser, Maurice went inside and called 911 to report the burglary. Two hours later, RCMP cruisers rolled up to arrest him. One of his .22-calibre rounds had ricocheted and struck the male burglar in the arm.
When a ballistics report confirmed that the bullet had ricocheted, the police decided to back off from charging Maurice with aggravated assault and firearms offences. Thief Ryan Watson was eventually convicted of mischief and violating probation. But now Watson is suing Maurice, claiming damages of $100,000, for “emotional upset, severe fatigue and insomnia” as well as — this is a nice touch — loss of income.
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