The young male fingered as the shooter in the 2021 death of a Barrie teen pleaded guilty in a Collingwood courtroom on Thursday.
The 17-year-old male victim was shot and killed at a River Ridge Road home in the city’s south end on Nov. 19, 2021. He was pronounced dead outside the home. His identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
In the days following the homicide, police had three males in custody.
The accused, who appeared in Collingwood court on Thursday afternoon, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Because he was 17 at the time of the shooting, his identity is also protected.
He was charged along with another 17-year-old male and Alexander Craggs, who was 18 at the time of the deadly shooting.
The male who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Thursday is scheduled to appear in Barrie court by video on July 20.
The court heard more details Thursday about what led to the shooting. According to an agreed statement of facts read into the court record, the victim and the shooter had been bad-mouthing each other on Instagram in the summer of 2021.
Sometime in the spring or summer of that year, court heard the shooter had purchased the Glock firearm that would ultimately be used to shoot the victim.
On the weekend of Aug. 21 to 22, 2021, the shooter and the victim ended up at the same Barrie house party. A confrontation ensued with the victim shoving the the other teen and eventually punching him, causing him to bleed from his eyebrow.
On Nov. 19, 2021, around 6 p.m., Barrie police responded to a home in the area of Hurst Drive and Golden Meadow Road for a shooting.
Neighbours had said they heard anywhere from eight to 12 shots that evening. One neighbour said they had to “duck for cover” when the shooting began. Another neighbour said it sounded like “a batch of fireworks” going off.
Meanwhile, Craggs had his sentencing hearing on Thursday in Barrie court, including victim impact statements from the victim’s family, after he was convicted of accessory to murder. A first-degree murder charge is also still pending against Craggs, but BarrieToday has been told it could be withdrawn after the other charges are dealt with.
Craggs is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28. He admitted to driving the vehicle that dropped off the other two accused in the area of the victim’s house and then picking up the shooter after the homicide occurred.
The case involving the third accused remains before the courts.
