A young man accused of perpetrating a fatal shooting at the Salmon Arm Church of Christ could be found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder.
Matrix Gathergood appeared in a Salmon Arm courtroom on Tuesday for a one-day trial.
He’s accused of murder and aggravated assault in connection with the April 2019 shooting which occurred during a Sunday morning church service.
Gordon Parmenter, a 78-year-old church elder, was killed in the shooting and fellow parishioner Paul Derkach was shot in the leg, but survived.
Gathergood has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
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Gathergood’s lawyer is arguing he should be found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder.
Court heard a psychiatrist treating Gathergood felt, on the day of the shooting, Gathergood was experiencing psychotic symptoms that were part of schizophrenia and those symptoms robbed Gathergood of the ability to appreciate when something was morally wrong.
The psychiatrist testified that Gathergood had a paranoid perception of the world and believed, irrationally, that the victim, Gordon Parmenter, was a mortal danger to him.
A justice is expected to rule on whether or not Gathergood should be found not criminally responsible on Wednesday afternoon.
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