Five months’ jail for pellet gun standoff with Sarnia police

Todd Graham-Grey told a judge he didn’t mean to cause any harm or havoc.

Justice Mark Poland said he believed him.

“But nonetheless – he did,” Poland said Wednesday before sentencing him to five months in jail.

Graham-Grey, 36, was arrested April 25 after a standoff with the Sarnia police emergency response team outside a south-end apartment building, court heard.

Multiple calls came in about 10:30 am that Tuesday about a man in camouflage pants carrying what appeared to be a shotgun or a long-barrelled firearm standing at Brock and Davis streets before heading into a nearby Euphemia Street apartment building.

Police urged the public to avoid the area, locked down the building and surrounding property, told nearby residents to go inside and shuttered a construction site, The Observer reported that day.

The standoff ended when Graham-Grey emerged from the building with the suspected firearm wrapped in a sweater and was arrested, court was told.

As Graham-Grey claimed at his bail hearing the next day, the suspected firearm was a pellet gun.

On Wednesday, seven weeks after the standoff, he was convicted of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose – a Criminal Code charge that includes imitation firearms – along with two probation breaches.

Graham-Grey told court he bought the pellet gun shortly before police swarmed the area.

“I literally just bought it. I bought it because it was old. I didn’t mean to cause any harm. I had no bags. Either way, I knew I shouldn’t have bought it, I guess,” he said.

Graham-Grey also said he knew what he did was stupid.

“I didn’t mean to cause all the havoc,” he said.

Poland said he believed his intentions, but pointed to his “pretty abysmal” past criminal record, including convictions for possessing a prohibited or restricted firearm, possessing a prohibited device or ammunition and unauthorized possession of a weapon.

“Mr. Graham-Grey must know at this point in his life that he simply cannot have anything to do with weapons, whether it was just an old pellet gun or BB gun or whatever it was,” Poland said. “That is absolutely clear having looked at his record, which, again, is quite concerning.”

Assistant Crown attorney Lori MacIntosh had pushed for six to nearly nine months in jail for all three convictions, while defense lawyer Ken Marley asked for a time-served sentence.

“The amount of time over which there was a threat to the public peace was relatively minor,” Marley noted.

Graham-Grey was given 75 days’ credit for time spent in pre-trial custody, meaning he has two-and-a-half months to serve.

The pellet gun was forfeited.

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