A B.C. Supreme Court Justice found three people guilty Friday of participating in a shooting of a Mackenzie man and torching a stolen pickup truck.
Each of Meranda Leigh Dingwall, 24, Kelly Michael Richet, 32, and Christopher Ryan Russell, 30, were found guilty of 11 counts related to the July 7, 2016 early-morning incident in which two men were shot at with one suffering wound to his calf.
Most significantly, each was found guilty of two counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure. They had also originally faced two counts of attempted murder but those charges were later dropped.
In reaching his decision following a nine-day trial, Justice Patrice Abrioux said the Crown's case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence - the two men targeted in the shooting refused to testify - but found there was enough to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
According to witness testimony, a white pickup truck pulled up in front of a 200-block Crysdale Drive home in the community of 3,500 people 186 kilometres north of Prince George and two passengers got out.
One walked around the back of the truck and up to the curb, then raise a handgun and fire two to four shots at three people standing on the front lawn. All three ran towards the house but one collapsed while the shooter jumped into the pickup's back and the other got into the cab and the truck sped off.
Images from the video surveillance camera of a restaurant looking over Mackenzie Boulevard showed a pickup truck of the same the description heading north shortly before 4 a.m. and then a few moments later heading south, this time with something large in the box, possibly a person.
About 20 minutes later, a truck later determined to have been stolen from a Prince George home the day before was found alight on a logging road a short distance off Highway 39 about 20 kilometres south of the town.
Just prior to coming across the truck, a witness also saw a truck heading south on Highway 39.
An RCMP officer who had been called out from Prince George in answer to the call saw a vehicle matching the description at a gas station in Bear Lake.As it turned out, Dingwall was driving the vehicle and Richet and Russell were with her.
RCMP also found a pass for handicapped parking from the stolen truck in her vehicle. And at the site where the truck was found on fire, glass from a broken light matching that from Dingwall's vehicle was found.
With the help of a tracking dog, a .45 calibre semiautomatic handgun was found in the bush about 100 metres away from the burn site. Cartridges from the firearm were found at the scene of the shooting.
Because they were wearing baggy clothing, hoodies and covers over their faces, the witness was unable to provide accurate descriptions of the shooter and the accomplice. Abrioux also had problems with the way gun smoke residue found on the three was collected - he had concern their hands may have been contaminated during the arrest.
But he also noted the three all live in Prince George and found that on the totality of the evidence, the three had at least aided and abetted in the shooting even if possibly none had pulled the trigger and found them guilty of the counts.
Abrioux said there was a chance others may have been involved but did not speculate on the motivation for the incident.
The three will be sentenced after pre-sentence reports are completed.
