Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Curtis Galbraith

Court

10-year jail sentence after Central Peace shots fired incident

Jul 27, 2020 | 5:30 AM

Alberta Justice says an October 2018 incident in the Spirit River that involved gunfire and stolen vehicles has led to a 10-year prison sentence for the man charged.

Ian Preston Letendre, who had no fixed address at the time he was charged, pleaded guilty to eight of the 25 charges he was facing on July 15 in Grande Prairie court.

Those included intent to endanger with a firearm, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, possession of stolen property over $5000, two counts of discharging a firearm with intent, robbery with a firearm, possession of a prohibited, loaded and restricted weapon, and failure to comply with conditions.

Letendre was given the 10-year sentence to cover everything, minus 816 days credit for time already spent in custody. His other charges were withdrawn.

Spirit River RCMP said at the time, that on October 12, 2018, at around 3 p.m., they were called out after a report of someone trespassing, then driving off.

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The person who phoned followed, but the suspect fired a handgun, hitting that person’s vehicle.

The suspect vehicle then went into a yard and confronted a man, woman, and child in a vehicle, pointing a gun at the man driving while demanding the vehicle.

A woman in the vehicle grabbed the keys and ran away because the child was in the back seat. The suspect fired a shot at her but missed. She then gave him the keys.

The man went into his home, came out with a gun, and, as the suspect was moving stolen property from one vehicle to another, and demanded he surrender and drop his weapon.

The suspect fired several more shots as the man fired back.

No one was hurt. Letendre took off on foot and was arrested a short time later.