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A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to firing a BB gun at a woman onboard an OC Transpo bus filled with passengers during an argument over loud music.
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Reilly Blanchard-Rivington appeared in court on Nov. 28 and pleaded guilty to three of the 14 charges he initially faced, including assault with a weapon, recklessly discharging the Glock 19 air pistol and breaching a prior court-ordered ban on possessing weapons.
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He was initially charged in July with aggravated assault, carrying a concealed weapon and masking his face with a ski mask during the altercation. Those charges were withdrawn as part of the plea.
Police were alerted at 5:45 p.m. on July 25 to the chaotic scene onboard the bus, which had stopped after the shooting near the intersection of Queen and Metcalfe Street in Centretown, according to an agreed statement of facts filed in court.
The victim, Oksana Stepanenko, was shot in the knee with the pellet gun. She was transported to hospital for treatment. The pellet is still lodged in her knee, prosecutors said Thursday, since doctors agreed removing it would be worse than leaving it in place.
Blanchard-Rivington fled the scene, but was arrested a short time later on Elgin Street.
According to the facts read into the court record by Assistant Crown attorney Vanessa Purdie, the victim was sitting in the back of the bus when Blanchard-Rivington boarded, wearing all black with his face covered while carrying a black bag and playing loud music.
He “refused to lower his music on multiple occasions,” according to the Crown’s timeline.
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The woman walked to the front of the bus to speak to the driver about the disturbance, which Blanchard-Rivington “interpreted as being reported on,” Purdie said.
When she returned to her seat, Blanchard-Rivington accused her of recording video of the altercation on her cellphone and “promptly reached into his backpack and produced a black firearm.”
He fired one shot into her right knee as she pleaded with fellow passengers to call 911.
Blanchard-Rivington ran from the bus with an unknown female companion as police “flooded” the downtown streets looking for the shooter.
He was quickly located and led officers on a “short foot pursuit” before he was arrested on Elgin Street near the intersection with Somerset, about 900 metres from the scene of the shooting.
He had handed off his backpack to his female companion, who was also quickly located by police, and the pistol-style BB gun was found inside.
The gun was tested and found to be in working order with a velocity rating of 395 feet-per-second, which was more than enough to cause serious harm, prosecutors said.
The barrelled weapon meets the classification as a firearm, and it was agreed that Blanchard-Rivington was prohibited from possessing the weapon.
Ontario Court Justice Jacqueline Loignon ordered a pre-sentence report and scheduled a court “check-in” with Blanchard-Rivington in December. He will be sentenced at a later date.
ahelmer@postmedia.com
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