Lawyer calls client an 'easy scapegoat' in trial over gun sold to Edmonton police shooter

Key facts

• Dennis Okeymow, 21, faces 17 charges including three counts of manslaughter.
• The rifle, a.22-calibre semi-automatic STG-44, was sold for $2,500 — about four times its legal retail value of $650.
• Roman Shewchuk, 16, used the rifle to kill Const. Travis Jordan and Const. Brett Ryan on March 2023.
• Shewchuk also shot a pizza delivery driver days earlier; he then killed himself.
• Okeymow pleaded guilty to weapon and drug trafficking but not guilty to manslaughter.
• The two exchanged over 600 text messages and met about two dozen times.
• Shewchuk had been hospitalized for schizophrenia and had strangled his mother before police arrived.

Closing arguments paint opposing narratives of responsibility

A man who sold the rifle used to kill two Edmonton police officers is being made an “easy scapegoat” in a case the Crown hopes will expand criminal liability for gun violence, his defence lawyer argued Thursday. Jamil Sawani told Court of King’s Bench Justice John Little that prosecutors want to “burn” his client Dennis Okeymow “in effigy” because the actual perpetrator, 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk, is dead. “The perpetrator of these acts is not here, so the Crown proposes Mr. Okeymow take his place as an effigy to be burned in this public square,” Sawani said. He accused the Crown of trying to open the “floodgates” by making firearms traffickers liable for any subsequent use of a weapon, a change he said must come from Parliament, not the courts.

The shooting that killed two constables and a teenager

On March 2023, Edmonton police constables Travis Jordan and Brett Ryan responded to a domestic violence call at an apartment building. Shewchuk had strangled his mother until she lost consciousness; when she awoke, she fled to a nearby building and called police. As the officers stood outside the family’s apartment, Shewchuk ambushed them, killing both. He also shot his mother, who survived, before turning the gun on himself. Days earlier, Shewchuk had randomly shot a pizza delivery driver inside a Pizza Hut, wounding him. The rifle used in both attacks was the same.22-calibre semi-automatic STG-44 that Okeymow had sold him.

Crown argues seller knew buyer was a minor

Prosecutor Adam Garrett argued that even if Okeymow did not know the full extent of Shewchuk’s mental illness — which included a multi-week hospitalization for schizophrenia — he is criminally responsible for selling a rifle to a 16-year-old who could not legally buy one. Court documents state Okeymow knew Shewchuk’s age. The Crown does not allege Okeymow pulled the trigger, but says he owns the consequences of the illegal sale. Garrett noted the rifle was sold for $2,500, about four times its legal retail value, and that Okeymow provided no safety equipment, storage measures, or stock. The transaction occurred between Jan. 29 and Feb. 1, 2023, after Shewchuk initially declined because he wanted a handgun and had only $1,500.

Defence says Crown using disadvantaged Indigenous youth as test case

Sawani argued that Okeymow, who was 18 at the time of the offences and is Indigenous, is an inappropriate test case for such a sweeping legal change. “(He) is frankly an easy scapegoat in our society upon which to heap the responsibility of these tremendous sorrows, when there is no other concrete person to blame for this tragedy,” Sawani said. He acknowledged the Crown’s objective of expanding liability is not illegitimate, but insisted it must be done by Parliament, not the courts. The defence pointed out that Okeymow had already pleaded guilty to weapon and drug trafficking charges, including selling cannabis and cocaine to Shewchuk.

A relationship built on drug deals and hundreds of texts

Court heard that Okeymow and Shewchuk first interacted in summer 2021, when Okeymow was 17 and Shewchuk was 15. Over the next two years, they exchanged more than 600 text messages, most related to drug transactions, and met in person about two dozen times. Okeymow sold Shewchuk cannabis and cocaine repeatedly. After the shooting, police seized Shewchuk’s phone and uncovered Snapchat messages showing drug transactions. On July 25, 2023, police arrested Okeymow on an unrelated matter as part of a plan to gather evidence about the rifle trafficking.

The rifle’s classification changed after the killings

At the time of the sale, the STG-44 rifle was classified as non-restricted. In late 2023, the federal government reclassified it as prohibited as part of a ban on what it describes as “assault-style firearms.” The rifle and 80 rounds of.22 calibre ammunition had a combined retail value of about $650, but Okeymow sold them for $2,500. Okeymow faces 17 charges in total, including three counts of manslaughter — for the deaths of the two officers and Shewchuk himself. Justice Little is to deliver a verdict at a later date.

A case that could reshape gun trafficking liability

The trial’s outcome may set a precedent for how Canadian courts treat gun sellers whose weapons are used in violent crimes. The Crown’s argument — that a trafficker can be held criminally liable for deaths even without pulling the trigger — goes beyond existing law, which typically requires proof of intent or foreseeability. Defence warns that opening that door could make every illegal gun seller potentially liable for any harm caused by their weapons, a shift they say only Parliament should authorize. For now, the families of Const. Jordan and Const. Ryan await a verdict that will determine whether Okeymow joins the legal record as a man convicted of manslaughter for a sale, or as a scapegoat in a tragedy that left no other living perpetrator to hold accountable.

The bottom line

• Dennis Okeymow sold a.22-calibre rifle to 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk for $2,500, knowing he was a minor.
• Shewchuk used the rifle to kill two Edmonton police officers and wound a pizza delivery driver before killing himself.
• Okeymow pleaded guilty to drug and weapon trafficking but not to manslaughter; his lawyer argues he is being scapegoated.
• The Crown seeks to expand criminal liability for gun traffickers, a move the defence says must come from Parliament.
• Justice John Little will deliver a verdict at a later date; the case could set a precedent for gun violence liability in Canada.