The W. R. Myers High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on April 28, 1999, at

W. R. Myers High School W. R. Myers High School is located in Taber, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1950, it is the town's only public high school. Students at W.R. Myers range from grade 9 to grade 12. Taber's middle school, D.A. Ferguson, shares a Cafeteria and a band ...

in Taber,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. The gunman, 14-year-old

school dropout Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

Todd Cameron Smith, walked into his school and began firing at students in a hallway, then went to the central hub of the school in front of the band room, killed one student and wounded another one. It was the first fatal high-school shooting in Canada since the

St. Pius X High School shooting The St. Pius X High School shooting occurred on October 27, 1975, at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Ontario. It was Canada's second recorded school shooting. The gunman, Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old St. Pius student, opened fire on his class ...

, 24 years earlier.

Shooting

The incident began when Smith entered the school campus armed with a .22-caliber Ruger 10/22

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger, and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. For comparison, a bolt-act ...

and 375 rounds of ammunition (350 rounds of live ammunition in his coat pocket and 25 rounds loaded into the rifle). As lunch concluded, he fired at three students in a hallway adjacent to the cafeteria. He fatally shot 17-year-old Jason Lang at point-blank range, and then shot at one other student. Gym coach Cheyno Finnie managed to wrestle Smith to the floor. He was arrested without further incident by a Taber

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

, who also served as the school's resource officer. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, and one count of attempted murder.

Aftermath

Legal proceedings

Smith's identity and background were originally protected under Canada's Young Offenders Act at the time of his arrest. He had

dropped out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

of W.R. Myers High School earlier in the school year. According to court documents, he had suffered severe

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

throughout his school years, including having been doused with lighter fluid and threatened to be set alight when he was in the first grade. He was remembered as being intelligent but socially awkward, and had become "reclusive and extremely fearful" by early adolescence. His mother said he had been showing signs of depression throughout his childhood. Smith's family stated that he "snapped" after watching coverage of the

Columbine High School massacre On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...

, which had occurred eight days prior. Crown prosecutors attempted to have then 15-year-old Smith tried as an adult with the potential for a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

with the possibility of parole in five years. The Crown argued that an adult prison would offer greater educational programs than a youth facility could provide. The court denied the motion and he was tried as a juvenile. Following his arrest and before the trial, a medical examination discovered Smith had a heart ailment that required

open heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

. During the surgery, he suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and fell into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

. After awakening from the coma, he had speaking and eating difficulties and suffered from diminished mental capacity. His case was suspended until he recovered, as both the Crown and defense agreed he could not stand trial. Following a "remarkable recovery", he was declared suitable to stand trial, and was scheduled to appear in court in September 2000. At his trial, Smith pleaded guilty to all three charges, and was sentenced to three years in prison, and was ordered to live seven years on probation upon his release.

Smith's release, second arrest

In March 2005, Todd Cameron Smith was released into a halfway house in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, despite the agreement of the judge that the then 20-year-old remained a threat to society. In August of that year, he walked out of the halfway house, leaving behind a note stating "he wouldn't be caged any longer and he wouldn't surrender alive." His escape prompted Toronto police to obtain a court injunction allowing them to publicize his identity until such time as he was caught.Sister of Alberta school shooter appeals for him to surrender
August 16, 2005 However, Smith turned himself to authorities the following day and was arrested without incident. The waiver allowing the publication of his identity in Canada lapsed upon his recapture, though not before his name was published and released by several news outlets across the country. Following his recapture, Canadian media were required to no longer use Smith's name or photograph, as they had the previous day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:W. R. Myers High School Shooting 1999 crimes in Canada 1999 in Alberta 1999 murders in Canada April 1999 crimes April 1999 events in Canada Deaths by firearm in Alberta High school killings High school shootings Murder in Alberta School killings in Canada School shootings committed by pupils School shootings in Canada Taber, Alberta Columbine High School massacre copycat crimes

Shooting

Aftermath

Legal proceedings

Smith's release, second arrest

See also

References