Apr. 21, 2022 "7 youths charged in deadly attack of Edmonton high school student": Today I found this article by Sean Amato on CTV news:
Seven youths in Edmonton have been arrested and are facing charges in the stabbing death of 16-year-old Karanveer Sahota.
The teenager was attacked at a bus stop outside of McNally High School on April 8.
He died of his injuries a week later, and Wednesday's autopsy determined a stab wound to the chest was the cause of death.
"We did charge seven youth with attempted murder. Since our victim has since passed away, those charges are being reviewed by the crown and those charges will be upgraded in the very near future," Edmonton Police Service Deputy Chief Kevin Brezinski confirmed Thursday.
"It's just such a tragedy, when we're talking about youth. Deaths are always tragic but a preventable death is upon us, and now obviously we've got mothers, fathers, community members that are obviously very upset," Chief Dale McFee added.
He called the investigation "complex" but he applauded the cooperation of witnesses and school officials.
The EPS victims services unit has been in the community to help people, McFee said.
No ages of the people charged were released and a spokesperson said more information will be provided when charges are finalized.
'EXTREME VALUE' IN SCHOOL OFFICERS: CHIEF
This week the president of the Edmonton Police Association said a move to pull uniformed police officers out of Edmonton Public Schools should be reconsidered following the homicide.
"My heart does go out to the family and to the community for this, but it does beg the question of should the SRO program be looked at again because of the positive effects it can have," Staff Sgt. Michael Elliott told CTV News Edmonton.
While Elliott acknowledged there is no guarantee that a school resource officer (SRO) would have prevented the attack on Sahota, he said officers were regularly preventing violence in schools before the board "paused" the program in 2019.
On Thursday, McFee echoed those comments saying SROs helped kids "stay on the right course."
"We find extreme value in the SRO program. Certainly, we're still in the Catholic schools. We cooperated fully with the independent review, we're hoping that that data will come out and tell us exactly what it is that we can do better or how it's working," McFee said.
The chief stated there were "very few" charges laid under the program, and argued it's more about relationship building with youth.
"At the same time, as we've always said, if the school division by their choice decides they don't want us there, then we're not going to force ourselves into the schools."
A spokesperson for the school board said SROs are still being studied, with a report due later this year. In the meantime they've hired "safety coaches" in three public schools.
A local criminologist is studying the effectiveness of SROs in schools and said while some have good experiences with the officers, "The issue is those positive interactions are not well distributed."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Joe Scarpelli
McNally High School: 7 youths charged in deadly attack of student Karanveer Sahota | CTV News
Jun. 12, 2023 "Teen pleads guilty on lesser charge in the death of Karanveer Sahota": Today I found this article by Nahramen Issa on CTV:
An 18-year-old woman accused in the death of an Edmonton high school student has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and been sentenced to probation.
She was one of seven people charged in connection to the killing of Karanveer Sahota. She cannot be named because she was 17 at the time of the attack.
She is one of seven people once charged with murder in the case, but one of six teens who had the charge later downgraded to manslaughter.
On Monday afternoon, she pleaded guilty to "accessory after the fact to assault with a weapon, by driving persons who had just assaulted Karanveer Sahota with weapons from the scene."
She was then sentenced to one year of probation with conditions.
“I think this is not fair,” said Temenpreet Kaur, Sahota's cousin. “We are not happy.”
Sahota, 16, was stabbed last April outside of McNally High School. He died a week later in hospital.
The teen who pleaded guilty had her lawyer read a statement, where she took full responsibility for her actions. She apologized to the family, and said she was grateful to be getting a second chance.
Sahota’s family and several friends were in the courtroom.
A cousin read a victim impact statement on behalf of the family, where she described Sahota as smart and genuine, and says the family is broken.
“It felt good to know that she knew she did something wrong
but the sentencing itself was difficult because we don’t think it was enough as a family,”
Monica Binns said.
“She gets to proceed with her life while Karanveer unfortunately lost his life.”
Five other youths are facing manslaughter charges, while one is accused of second-degree murder.
Their court dates are set for the end of this year and next spring. They cannot be identified because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“We just want to see justice served. I get the youth criminal justice system is set on rehabilitation and getting youth back in society but what about the victims?" Binns asked.
"We will forever wonder what Karanveer would have looked like, what would he have done with this life.”
A publication ban is in effect for the details of the role the guilty teen played in the killing as the other trials are still pending.
My opinion: This is really triggering for me, because this is the high school I attended. This is not an inner city school where people with low incomes and gangs are at.
This reminds me in like 2009 where my friend/ the Soup Place co-worker Ray Anne who went to M. E. Lazerte, and a boy got stabbed. He survived.
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