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When Calgary-area man Ryan Wade Nolan shot a co-worker in the leg he wasn’t intending to harm him, he told an Airdrie court Friday.
And Nolan, who pleaded guilty in March to a charge of intentionally discharging a firearm while being reckless to the safety of another person, insisted he accidentally shot Jason Hare.
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Nolan also denied threatening Hare after the shooting by telling him “you are not so tough now and I’m going to kill you.”
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Hare testified Friday in Airdrie Court of Justice that Nolan uttered those words, and added an expletive as well, after shooting him on a rural property south of Irricana on May 14, 2022.
And when Hare later disrupted the court during Nolan’s testimony by making comments from the gallery, Justice Lloyd Robertson had a sheriff remove him form the courtroom.
Victim denies suggestion that he made threatening comments toward Nolan
Hare had testified he had no idea why Nolan shot him in the leg while he and property owner Bill Unsworth were outside the rural home that both the gunman and victim were renovating.
He told Crown prosecutor Lori Chambers that Nolan exited the home and was screaming something, so he swore at him to go back inside.
Nolan did, but quickly returned with a loaded rifle, shooting at him twice and hitting him with the second bullet, Hare said.
The witness also said Nolan asked him to tell police the shooting was an accident, to which he replied he wouldn’t, because it wasn’t.
Hare also denied suggestions by defence counsel Alain Hepner that he had made threatening comments to Nolan the day before and approached his client menacingly when he emerged with the firearm.
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Charges laid after man shot in leg at rural Alberta property
Gunman’s sentencing delayed after disputing whether shooting of his co-worker was intentional
Nolan, his voice often quivering, testified he was terrified of his bigger co-worker and he went outside to tell Unsworth one of them would have to go.
At that moment Hare came running around the corner of the building, forcing him to flee inside, he said.
Nolan said he had planned to go gopher hunting with his son that day and had a loaded firearm just inside the door for that purpose.
He said he returned with the weapon in hopes of diffusing he situation, but Hare started coming after him.
“Not once did I ever point, or intend to hit him,” he told Hepner.
Robertson must now decide which version of events to believe before proceeding to hear sentencing arguments from Chambers and Hepner.
His fact-finding decision is set for Nov. 15, and submissions will follow a week later.
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
