KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The mother of a man accused of murdering a romantic rival hung her head in B.C. Supreme Court as jurors watched a video of him apologizing and saying he loved his family.
Her son was 16 in November 2008 when he allegedly shot a man while in high school over what's been described in court as a love triangle. His girlfriend, who was 17, is due to stand trial later this year for the same crime.
In the November 2012 video after his arrest, RCMP Sgt. Rob Burrett repeatedly told the man that his parents were devastated to learn he’d been charged with first-degree murder.
“I love them and I’m sorry,” he said. “I just don’t want them to think I’m a bad person.”
Neither the accused, now 24, nor his girlfriend, now 25, can be named because of their ages when they allegedly planned the murder.
Tyler Myers, 22, was shot three times — twice in the back and once in the back of the head — in a Salmon Arm, B.C., schoolyard.
Jurors have heard that both Myers and the male accused were romantically involved with the female accused.
Crown lawyer Bill Hilderman said the pair hatched a plan to borrow a .22-calibre rifle from a friend and kill Myers.
Hilderman said the accused female lured Myers to an elementary school while the armed man now on trial was hiding in a wooded area. Hilderman said he fired a bullet into Myers’ back.
Court heard the male accused then emerged and fired two more shots at Myers.
Both accused were interviewed by police in the days after Myers’ death and denied any involvement.
They became suspects three weeks later after police obtained a warrant allowing them to intercept text messages.
The investigation slowed, court heard, until the female accused became the target of an RCMP undercover operation in 2012.
Jurors have listened to an audio recording of the male accused admitting his involvement in the murder to an undercover police officer posing as a gangster on the promise that his powerful criminal organization could clear him of any suspicion.
The friend who loaned the two accused his father’s rifle to kill Myers told court last week that the plan came together over lunch on the day of the murder.
“They were going to have a chance to take Tyler’s life,” said the witness, whose name is also protected by a publication ban.
The accused later returned the rifle and gave the witness a bag of pot, court heard.
The witness pleaded guilty in 2014 to being an accessory after the fact and was handed a two-year conditional sentence with no jail time.
