Man who shot store clerk urged to turn life around in prison

A Manitoba judge implored a 24-year-old man to find a better path in life as he sentenced him to 14 years for the attempted murder of a store clerk who had confronted him over a stolen bottle of Gatorade.

“I can see that life has not always been fair to you or kind to you, but you’ve also made some terrible mistakes, and you’ll now have to pay a very high price for that,” Court of King’s Bench Justice Theodor Bock told Dakota Bruyere last week.

In September, he was convicted of attempted murder for the shooting of Depanshu Chumber at a Quickie Mart on Logan Avenue.

“You still have a very long life to live and there are many good things that can come from that. I encourage you to take every opportunity you can while you serve your sentence to make the most of that time,” the judge told Bruyere. “My sincere wish for you is that you find a better path in your life.”

Bock accepted a joint recommendation from Crown prosecutor Carrie Ritchot and defence lawyer Tom Rees that Bruyere be sentenced to 14 years, minus time served.

Bruyere had gone into the shop on July 25, 2023, grabbed a Gatorade from a cooler and left without paying. Chumber followed him outside to get money or retrieve the drink. That’s when Bruyere spun around, pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and fired a round point-blank into Chumber’s abdomen from two or three metres away.

Security video showed Chumber clutching his abdomen as Bruyere began to run away, before returning to retrieve his drink and a piece of the gun that had fallen off.

Bock said random violence such as that scares the community.

“That shock and fear is corrosive, it eats away at the ties that bind us as friends and neighbours, makes us suspicious and scared of each other. It robs us all of the peaceful life we would wish for ourselves and for our friends and family,” Bock told court.

Chumber called 911 himself after trying to hail down a passerby. He received treatment at the Health Sciences Centre for two weeks.

Chumber told the Crown attorney he did not wish to make a formal statement to the court at last week’s hearing, but said he’s made a “full recovery.” He has a large scar across his belly and he’s been told he’ll be more susceptible to hernias.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s made a miraculous recovery,” Bock said about the victim, adding he was taken by his strength and resiliency. “He will bear the scars of this event, the physical scars, for the rest of his life, and I have no doubt that there are likewise emotional scars.”

Bruyere, who was born in Winnipeg but has treaty status with Sagkeeng First Nation, was taken into child welfare as an infant and spent his youth in group and foster homes. He was physically abused by an uncle.

He has alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, which is a type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a Grade 8-level education and has never had a job. Bruyere, who began abusing substances at a young age, blamed his violent criminal behaviour on methamphetamine use, court was told.

Bock said Bruyere’s life bears the hallmarks of colonialism’s harms to Indigenous people.

Bruyere is banned from owning weapons for life.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

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