A woman sentenced to four years in prison for her part in an incident where police were shot at on Onion Lake Cree Nation broke down and sobbed in the prisoner鈥檚 box.
Glynnis Chief, 37, appeared in person in Lloydminster Provincial Court July 7 and was sentenced on a charge of being party to an offence.
鈥淭he offence itself is serious and egregious,鈥� said Judge B. D. Henning. 鈥淲hen people are shooting at police officers there are serious penalties.鈥�
Chief is the last of five people to be sentenced in the New Year鈥檚 Day incident.
Danny Lee Weeseekase, 38, from Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation,聽was given 9.5 years in prison. Tyler Ryan Wolfe, 35, from Onion Lake Cree Nation, was handed six years. Twaine Derek Buffalo-Naistus from Lloydminster was sentenced to eight years in prison. Melissa McAlpine from Lloydminster received a nine-month conditional sentence to be served in the community.
Crown Prosecutor Oryn Holm told the court that Chief鈥檚 role was handing the gun magazine back and forth between the two active shooters, Weeseekase and Buffalo-Naistus, who were shooting at police.
Judge Henning acknowledged that Chief didn鈥檛 have a criminal record but told her, 鈥淵ou have, however, gone out with a group of people who weren鈥檛 particularly good people, to spend your time with, especially if you had a family and children to concern yourself with. You put yourself at risk. These people were not good people to spend the afternoon with and go drinking with.鈥�
Police said they believe the accused to be Westside Outlaws gang members.
Defence Tim Nolan said Chief doesn鈥檛 have a criminal record and the incident was 鈥渙ut of character.鈥�
The court heard that on Jan. 1, 2021, five people put firearms into an SUV, grabbed alcohol, left Lloydminster and headed towards Onion Lake. Wolfe was driving.
On the way they drank and at some point, Wolfe stopped the SUV and some of the passengers got out and took turns shooting at trees in a field.
They got back into the SUV and continued to Onion Lake.
At approximately 2 p.m. they drove into a rural farmyard a few kilometres outside of Onion Lake. The front gate to the property was locked so they drove the SUV over a barbwire fence, drove through a corral system and opened a few gates to get into the farmyard. That鈥檚 when the occupants of the SUV noticed a fully marked police vehicle in the farmyard. They panicked and rammed the SUV through the front gate. At this point the RCMP officer and his wife called the detachment and officers started searching for the SUV.
The SUV with its five occupants was on Highway 17 and headed back towards Lloydminster when they saw an Onion Lake First Nation security checkpoint so they turned around and headed back towards Onion Lake.
An RCMP officer saw the SUV and activated his lights and sirens to stop the vehicle. Several other RCMP officers followed.
The SUV continued down Highway 17 and approached Chief Taylor Road on Onion Lake. The SUV drove through a four-way stop sign and headed towards the heart of the community. The RCMP continued the pursuit.
A passenger in the front of the SUV leaned out of the window and shot at the police. The SUV continued down Chief Taylor Road reaching speeds of approximately 177 km/hour. It was in the afternoon, shortly after 2 p.m., and the suspects sped past two school zones and a medical clinic on Onion Lake.
The passengers of the SUV fired more shots at the RCMP through the back window. The pursuing officer heard the loud crack of a bullet travelling past him. At this point the officer decided to back off.
The SUV then headed west and went past an RCMP vehicle. The officer pulled to the side of the road, drew his service revolver and allowed the vehicle to pass. The officer followed it and heard a gunshot come from the SUV. In total, about six shots were fired at RCMP, said the Crown.
The officer briefly lost sight of the SUV and then spotted it near the high school. All five were arrested. When police searched the SUV they found two SKS rifles, a sawed-off shotgun, a sawed-off 22-caliber rifle and ammunition.
With credit for time served in pre-trial custody, Chief will serve three years and 86 days.
