Three years in prison for man who tried to hold up Kamloops gas station with shotgun

A man who was foiled by bystanders while trying to rob a busy North Kamloops convenience store armed with a pump-action shotgun has been ordered to spend three years in federal prison.

James Robert Levi Black, 28, was sentenced Tuesday in Kamloops provincial court after earlier pleading guilty to charges of robbery with a firearm and assault.

Black was described in court as a Royal Inland Hospital employee who was desperate for money last summer.

Crown prosecutor Katie Bouchard said Black finished a shift at the hospital on Aug. 18, 2022, and was looking for some quick cash.

“He decided the the quickest and easiest way to get that money was to go and rob the Canco on the North Shore,” she said.

“So he took an unloaded pump-action shotgun and walked — in broad daylight, with many people around — into the Canco and pointed the firearm at the employees behind the till.”

Black was tackled from behind by a shopper and had the gun wrestled away from him.

“It’s a very good thing that the shotgun wasn’t loaded, because if it had been, there was a very real risk that it would have been discharged during the scuffle where he was disarmed,” Bouchard said.

The assault charge to which Black pleaded guilty stemmed from an altercation at his family’s home on Dec. 17, 2021. Court heard Black began arguing with his mother before attacking his sister, punching her in the face three times and choking her.

Bouchard was seeking 3.5 years in prison for the robbery and a further seven days for the assault, while defence lawyer Graham Kay sought a sentence of three years in prison.

Kay said Black felt overwhelmed by his difficult financial situation, made worse by family debts brought about following a relative’s health battle.

“In Mr. Black’s mind, the financial situation was so bad he saw no way out,” he said.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Marianne Armstrong sentenced Black to three years and one week in federal prison. Once he’s given credit for time served, Black will have about 28 months remaining on his sentence.

He will also be required to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and prohibited from possessing firearms for 20 years.