A 22 year old Penticton man faces a year of probation for being combative after being told he couldn't sleep in a bank vestibule.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

The man convicted of possessing and firing a handgun on a crowded beach at Osoyoos Lake during Canada Day celebrations in 2022 and seriously injuring a young man was sentenced to seven years in a federal penitentiary consecutive to a four-year sentence he's already serving on other gun-related convictions.

Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick found Steven Gallagher, 32, guilty following a two-week trial last fall at the Penticton Courthouse of one count of aggravated assault, one count of pointing a firearm and one count or recklessly discharging a firearm.

Crown attorney Nashina Devji had asked the court to impose a sentence of nine to 10 years against Gallagher during a sentencing hearing, while defence counsel David Hopkins had asked the court to impose a sentence of between 3.5 to six years.

Fitzpatrick imposed a sentence of eight years on the count of recklessly discharging a firearm, seven years for aggravated assaulted and four years for pointing a firearm, all to run concurrently.

However, she lowered the most severe sentence to seven years, based on the "totality principle" under Canadian law, noting Gallagher has been in prison for some time on two other firearms-related convictions.

Court heard Gallagher is a father of four young children, including three that are being raised by his parents.

Gallagher still has four years to serve on two other gun-related convictions and the seven-year sentence imposed Friday won't begin until that time has been served.

Fitzpatrick called Gallagher's actions that day "incredibly reckless and they put everyone on that beach in serious danger."

She further stated that it was only "through blind luck" that other people weren't seriously injured or killed as the beach was packed during Canada Day celebrations.

Court heard Gallagher and a group of friends had gathered at White Sands Beach on Osoyoos Lake to celebrate Canada's birthday. A second group, including Gallagher's ex-wife and several of her friends, arrived at the same beach.

The ex-wife said hello to Gallagher and his friends and there were no issues for some time, until Gallagher started kicking sand towards several members of his ex-wife's group of friends, said Fitzpatrick.

Gallagher approached the group, started a fight and eventually pulled a handgun from his shorts and started firing rounds into the air and into the sand and ended up pointing the gun at one of his ex-wife's best friends, she said.

One of the bullets fired hit a young man, who was another friend of his ex-wife, in the hip, causing serious bleeding, she said.

The gunfire caused hundreds of people on the beach to scatter in fear before Gallagher and his group of friends took off from the scene, she said.

The fact Gallagher brought a loaded handgun to a crowded beach on Canada Day, initiated a fight with strangers, pulled out the gun and fired it was dangerous, reckless and caused immense fear and terror to hundreds of people on the beach, she said.

Court heard Gallagher is currently serving time for breaking into a pharmacy in Oliver and setting the pharmacy on fire back in 2021. Just before that incident, there were reports shots were fired outside the RCMP detachment in Oliver and while Gallagher wasn't charged for firing those shots, the court accepts he was responsible, said Fitzpatrick.

Gallagher was also convicted on weapons offences after shots were fired on the Penticton Indian Band. Gallagher and a group of friends were found in possession of numerous weapons and ammunition when a vehicle was pulled over after reports of shots fired.

The fact Gallagher committed the Canada Day crimes while on bail and banned from possessing firearms is a serious aggravating factor in this sentencing hearing, she said.

Gallagher has other convictions related to firearms dating back to 2013, she said.

A victim impact statement from the woman he pointed the handgun at shows she has suffered severe emotional and psychological damage from this incident "which continues to this day," said Fitzpatrick.

Her parents also provided a victim impact statement detailing the negative impact this incident has had on their daughter, she said.

The shooting victim and his good friend, who became involved in the fight with Gallagher and his male friends before gunshots were fired, didn't provide victim impact statements, but the court heard neither one of them has celebrated Canada Day the past two years since this happened and want to forget what happened, said Fitzpatrick.

Reports presented in court at previous hearings against Gallagher clearly indicate he was raised in a loving and supportive multi-generational family and there was no suggestion of any abuse of any kind growing up, she said.

His family laid the foundation for Gallagher to lead a healthy and productive life and "it's all the more puzzling" why he chose the path he did which has landed him in so much legal trouble, she said.

It was Gallagher who chose to bring a loaded firearm to a crowded beach on Canada Day, it was Gallagher who initiated a fight and it was Gallagher who pulled the gun out and started firing bullets indiscriminately, said Fitzpatrick.

HIs actions caused "unbelievable fear and terror" to everyone on the beach that day, she said.

Mitigating factors are that Gallagher has gotten clean and sober while incarcerated, sought out and accepted counselling and has become a "model inmate" in jail at a minimum security federal prison on the Lower Mainland that provides many great services to First Nations inmates, she said.

She accepts that Gallagher was a victim of systemic racism growing up and had to deal with the loss of many people he loved and cared about in a short period of time, she said.

He turned to abusing alcohol and drugs to deal with those losses and this no doubt played a role in his violent behaviour on numerous occasions over a 10-year period.

These mitigating factors "reduce his moral culpability to some degree", she said.

As part of his sentence, Gallagher was ordered to provide a DNA sample for a national crime database, he is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms, ammunition or any prohibited weapon for the rest of his life and he's to not have any contact with his victim or his friends who were on the beach that day.

At the end of the sentencing hearing, Fitzpatrick praised Gallagher for making good use of his time in prison, getting clean and sober and using his time behind bars to seek counselling in efforts to turn his life around.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald

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