Feb. 14, 2021 – A man has pleaded guilty to five charges following a 2018 incident where he shot at RCMP officers in Sturgeon County.
On Friday afternoon, 30-year-old Destry Sayine appeared before the court to enter five guilty pleas to charges he was facing from an incident that took place in 2018.
Sayine pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm at a person with intent to wound, maim, disfigure or to endanger the life of. He also entered guilty pleas to possessing a firearm without a licence, assault, breaching a recognizance by possessing ammunition and possessing a weapon while under a mandatory weapons prohibition order.
Sayine was originally facing charges of attempted murder of six RCMP officers, along with a slew of other charges.
On Friday, the court heard in an agreed statement of facts police were called to a house in Sturgeon County at around 5 a.m. on March 18, 2018, after Sayine committed an assault in the home. When the RCMP responded, they were made aware that Sayine had been drinking and was considered to be suicidal.
When the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT) arrived at around 8:45 a.m., believing Sayine did not have access to any weapons, Sayine was in the garage with his girlfriend. The ERT officers entered the garage to attempt to ensure the safety of both Sayine and his girlfriend.
At 9 a.m., members of the ERT entered a smaller room in the garage as they called out, “Police!”, and were able to remove Sayine’s girlfriend from the situation.
The officers saw Sayine was at the top of the stairs in the garage and started asking him to come down as he was under arrest for assault.
“The accused was becoming increasingly agitated and yelling, including indicating that he was not afraid and that he had been shot before,” the statement of facts read.
As police moved to the doorway between the smaller room in the garage and the larger garage space, Sayine discharged a firearm toward the doorway where officers were positioned.
“The accused shot toward the doorway with a prohibited firearm. Police members heard between six to eight shots in quick succession,” the statement read.
Officers moved back into the small room in the garage without discharging their firearms but threw a canister of gas into the large garage space.
ERT members took cover behind a police vehicle until a tactical vehicle arrived on the scene.
Sayine ultimately surrendered peacefully at around 1:40 p.m.
Police searched the garage and found a semi-automatic .22 calibre rifle in the garage
Sayine will be sentenced at an undetermined later date after a Gladue report is conducted.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2021.
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