Canada

A man in Alberta Walmart shoots to serve 10 years before qualifying for parole

An Alberta judge imposed a 10-year suspended sentence on a man who shot and killed a customer in front of a Walmart store in downtown Alberta.

Chase Fried, 20, pleaded guilty Monday to the second-degree murder of Jim Williams in Red Deer in December 2019.

The RCMP said at the time that a masked man armed with a severed semi-automatic rifle had shot Williams, 69, in front of his wife in the store’s parking lot during an attempted robbery.

Williams died in hospital.

Judge Eric McLean agreed with a joint statement by the Crown and the defense that in addition to the automatic life sentence, Fried should not be eligible for parole for at least a decade.

The court heard six testimonies from victims, including Williams’ wife, children and a woman who witnessed the shooting in the mall’s parking lot.