FILE PHOTO

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

A 31-year-old man will remain in jail after committing what a judge called "vengeance-based" arson on an Oliver pharmacy in 2021.

Steven Marlo Gallagher, of the Osoyoos Indian Band, caused more than $400,000 in damage when he lit the pharmacy ablaze, shortly after shooting the bumper of a police car.

He was sentenced to spend the next two years behind bars for arson and a break and enter after a hearing in Penticton on Oct. 5.

Justice David Crear said he was triggered by a "long-simmering resentment of authority," in the early May morning arson, according to the published decision.

Three hours before he broke into the pharmacy, Gallagher was visited by Oliver RCMP officers investigating a gunshot complaint around 1 a.m., May 15, 2021.

Crear said he gave the officers a "tour" of his house, but they left around 2 a.m. when he started to get agitated. Police saw several vehicles speed away from the house shortly after, but they decided not to pursue, according to the decision.

It was just before 4 a.m. when officers heard gunshots outside the detachment and saw Gallagher's green truck drive away.

The shooting "surprised" the officers, who were nearing the end of their shift, and it's not clear from the decision whether they pursued Gallagher after he shot the bumper of a police cruiser.

According to the decision, Gallagher was seen on surveillance footage parking his truck at Triangle Park.

He torched his own truck before breaking through the glass front door at Remedys RX Pharmacy. He then lit several sundresses on fire before he disappeared from the building and had a friend pick him up as he left.

Firefighters arrived a few minutes later and the building didn't suffer any structural damage, but did sustain $428,700 of damage and cost the owner a further $100,000 in other costs.

His total sentence would have been three years and nine months, but Gallagher was given credit for the 14 months he's already spent behind bars, leaving him with a two-year sentence.

The court also imposed a restitution order for the $428,700 lost by the pharmacy's insurance company and $43,673 for the physiotherapy business next door. However, Crear noted it's "unlikely that will ever be realized."

At the time of the arson and shooting, he already had a 10-year firearm ban. The court didn't address the breach directly, but Crear noted he's going to be sentenced in November for a separate firearm-related conviction.

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