UPDATE: Church murder suspect found not criminally responsible

Jul 22, 2020 | 6:18 PM

UPDATE

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled a man accused in a shooting death in a Salmon Arm church last year was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

The verdict means 25-year-old Matrix Gathergood will remain at a forensic psychiatric hospital for the time being.

The suspect’s neighbour, 78-year-old Gordon Parmenter, died in the shooting while another man was shot in the leg.

A psychiatrist said the suspect suffered from schizophrenia, and believed the victim was a mortal danger.

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UPDATE

A man accused in a shooting death in a Salmon Arm church has pleaded not guilty, claiming he was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

The plea, as reported by Global News, came on the opening day of Matrix Gathergood’s trial after a psychiatrist testified the suspect suffers from schizophrenia.

Gathergood, 25, is alleged to have gunned down 78-year-old Gordon Parmenter and wounded another man in The Church of Christ in April 2019.

The trial is expected to conclude this afternoon with defence and Crown submissions.

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EARLIER

A shooting death at a church in Salmon Arm last year is the subject of a B.C. Supreme Court trial opening today in the Shuswap city.

Matrix Savage Gathergood is accused of the first-degree murder of 78-year-old Gordon Parmenter who was shot in the Church of Christ on April 14, 2019.

Gathergood, who was born in 1994, is also charged with aggravated assault after another man was shot in the leg.

The trial is before a judge with no jury.

The church was hosting an event at the time when two parishioners were shot.

BC Ambulance attended and Parmenter was declared deceased, while the other man was taken to hospital in stable condition.

Police say the suspect was wrestled to the ground by a number of the people in the church and a rifle was seized.

A month before his death, Parmenter’s home caught fire. Gathergood is charged with arson in a separate case.

by Pete McIntyre

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