Mountie shooter found guilty

A Saskatchewan man has been found guilty of shooting an off-duty RCMP officer in his home five years ago.

The accused, who was 16 at the time of the shooting and so cannot be identified, claimed he did not mean to hit Const. Greg Toogood, a member of the Carrot River detachment of the RCMP at the time.

Police announced several charges in March against a man, now 22, in the Jan.16, 2006 shooting. 

In earlier court proceedings, the man pleaded guilty to intimidating a police officer and carrying and using a weapon while committing an indictable offence. However, he was not sentenced for those crimes while being tried on the more serious charge of discharging a firearm with intent to wound, to which he pleaded not guilty.

At his trial earlier this year, the accused testified he was worried the officer would tell his father about his involvement in a break-in and hoped the gunfire would frighten the Mountie into leaving town.

"I was not trying to hurt anybody," he said. "It was fast, it was reckless."

He also claimed he did not know he had wounded the officer.

"As soon as I saw the cross-hairs on the door, I shot and then I ran," he said.

The bullet, fired from a high-powered hunting rifle at around 8 p.m., ripped through the back door of Toogood's home. The officer, who had gone to the door to check on a barking dog, was struck in the arm.

About a year after the shooting, the RCMP said, Toogood was still healing from his injuries but able to get back to policing duties.

Carrot River is about 250 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.