Crown argues for 14-year sentence in 'unprovoked' shooting of stranger in Saskatoon

A young man died of a single gunshot wound to his chest after a chance encounter on Saskatoon's west side.

Now another young man is waiting to find out how long he will spend in prison.

Zennen Clyde Thomas, 21, was in Court of King's Bench on Thursday for sentencing, after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter for shooting Kaylum Tom, 21, on Dec. 1, 2022.

They were strangers until both went to the same apartment at 126 Avenue W South. They left around the same time.

Surveillance video from the scene shows Thomas and two others were at the exterior door, apparently waiting for a taxi, when Tom and his brother also left the building and got into a white minivan parked across the street. When the taxi arrived, Tom and another man got out of the minivan.

"[They] started walking towards the cab. It is unclear exactly what was said at this time; however, comments were made between Tom and Thomas regarding gang affiliation," according to the agreed statement of facts filed at Thomas's sentencing.

Thomas was holding a gun by his side, and he raised it and fired a single shot, striking Tom in the chest. Tom turned back toward the minivan, while Thomas got into the taxi. It drove away.

Within a minute, the people in the minivan flagged down a police officer on 21st Street West. The officer tried to help Tom, who was unresponsive in the front seat, bleeding from his nose and mouth. Paramedics took him to Royal University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Thomas was arrested on Dec. 19, 2022, and confessed.

On the day Tom was shot, he was on a day off from his construction job with Build Up Saskatoon, a gang diversion program helping people move away from the gang lifestyle and learn a trade, CBC previously reported.

Thomas, who was homeless at the time, had been consuming meth in the days prior, and had been awake "for a significant period of time," his defence lawyer, Tanis Talbot, said in court. He had just been given the gun the day before the shooting.

Crown prosecutor Jaimie MacLean argued for a sentence of 14 years, given the seriousness of the "unprovoked" shooting of an unarmed victim (Thomas was originally charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter).

'Serious cognitive deficits'

Talbot argued for a sentence of between nine and 12 years. She said Thomas's moral blameworthiness needs to be considered in light of his truly tragic upbringing in the context of colonization and its ongoing effects on Indigenous people.

Thomas's family is from Witchekan Lake First Nation. Talbot outlined how Thomas's maternal grandmother stabbed and killed his grandfather in an argument, and Thomas's mother was born in a penitentiary, while the grandmother was serving her sentence.

His mother and her siblings were put in foster care, where they experienced "horrendous violence," and his mother experienced significant mental health and addictions issues, court heard.

Thomas has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. When he was 13, he underwent a comprehensive assessment that placed him in the lowest percentile in terms of intellectual functioning — meaning 99 per cent of young people would have scored higher than he did, Talbot said.

She noted Thomas was just 18 when the shooting happened, technically an adult under the law, but living in a "completely unstructured environment" with "serious cognitive deficits."

"I would argue Zennen doesn't have the same ability as a huge percentage of the population to make good decisions," Talbot said, arguing that this has a direct effect on how the judge should consider the offence.

"This all happened very quickly, and a very bad decision was made in a very short period of time."

Justice Natasha Crooks said she needs some time to consider the submissions. She is scheduled to give her sentencing decision on Feb. 12.