Judge gives teen four months of deferred custody and supervision, followed by 18 months of probationPublished Dec 03, 2025Last updated 7 hours ago7 minute readCrown attorney Terry Nickerson speaks with reporters outside youth court Wednesday after a 16-year-old Halifax boy’s sentencing on eight weapons-related charges from an investigation into an intention to shoot up his high school. The teen was sentenced to four months of deferred custody and supervision, followed by 18 months of probation. Photo by Steve BruceArticle contentA Halifax teen who was arrested last spring and accused of planning to shoot up his school has been handed a community-based sentence for eight weapons-related offences.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentThe 16-year-old boy’s identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.Article contentArticle contentPolice apprehended the youth at his home last April 23 after receiving a tip from a suicide hotline operator that he had shared thoughts about committing a shooting at Citadel High School and then taking his own life.Article contentArticle contentIn June, the boy accepted responsibility in Halifax youth court for one of the 33 offences with which he was charged: careless storage of ammunition.Article contentIn August, he pleaded guilty to six counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm — specifically four rifles and two shotguns seized from his home — and one count of unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon, brass knuckles.Article contentThe Crown withdrew 25 other charges, including four counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to Citadel students in general and three male students in particular and two counts of creating online groups promoting hatred against the African Nova Scotian and Jewish communities.Article contentThe boy’s sentencing hearing got underway Tuesday, and Judge Bronwyn Duffy gave her decision Wednesday.Article contentCrisis worker calls 911Article contentThe judge imposed a sentence of four months of deferred custody and supervision — akin to a conditional sentence for adults — followed by 18 months of probation.Article contentArticle content“This is indeed a uniquely difficult case,” Duffy said.Article contentShe noted the boy was being sentenced for weapons offences, not for hate crimes or making threats.Article content“But these offences involve a much more complicated landscape,” she said. “For this court to say otherwise would be to mischaracterize the situation and to understate its magnitude.Article content“It is essential that the record reflect the conduct that is at issue here.”Article contentAccording to the agreed facts, the boy initiated a text exchange with a worker at the suicide crisis line April 23. In the exchange, the teen said he always planned to die young and on his own terms.Article contentHe said he became obsessed with the 1999 Columbine school shooting in Colorado, saying, “I just saw myself in the shooters. I planned on shooting up my school and then killing myself.”Article contentThe judge said the boy styled himself as a neo-Nazi, espousing that ideology, which only fuelled his obsession.Article contentHe confirmed to the crisis prevention worker that he decided about a year earlier not to carry out a shooting.Article content Police maintain a presence at Citadel High in Halifax on April 24, 2025, a day after a youth was charged with making threats to bring weapons to the school. Photo by Tim KrochakArticle contentThe 106-minute exchange led the crisis worker to call 911. Police responded right away and arrested the boy, who was taken to the IWK Health Centre for a psychiatric evaluation and held in custody on charges.Article contentOther items seizedArticle contentIn addition to the firearms, police seized five air guns, various types of ammunition, a crowbar, hatchets, a machete, a dagger and firearm cases. The key to the firearms safe was located in the boy’s bedroom.Article contentInformation was recovered from the teen’s smartphone and electronic devices, some from deleted files.Article contentThere were photos of the boy holding weapons, sometimes pointed at his own face. Police also found a letter to his family in the event that he should die that included a line expressing extreme hatred for individuals or groups whom he felt looked down upon him for no reason.Article contentArticle contentThe devices also contained a note regarding people to be killed and another note, created March 28 and titled “Manifesto or Whatever,” detailing the mental health struggles of young white men and how they find their way to the alternative right.Article contentPolice also discovered a pamphlet on the devices with a Nazi symbol and phrases denigrating people of Jewish and African descent.Article contentThe pamphlet, the manifesto and the list were not distributed or posted online for anyone else to view, the judge said.Article content“This is the evidence before the court,” Duffy said. “This is the factual backdrop within which I must evaluate sentence.”Article contentThe teen was denied bail in May and remained in custody for 173 days until mid-October, when he was released on conditions negotiated by the Crown and the defence.Article contentPsychological assessmentsArticle contentTwo psychological assessments were prepared on the teen. Both clinicians concluded the boy poses a low risk for general violence, but their assessment tools do not address the risk of targeted violence.Article contentArticle contentThe most recent report said the boy’s treatment should challenge the unusual amount of pro-criminal attitudes he displays.Article contentCrown attorney Terry Nickerson recommended a six-month deferred custody and supervision order and 18 months of probation. Nickerson said this was a dangerous situation that nobody knew about until the teen contacted the crisis line, and he argued that public safety had to be a paramount concern at sentencing.Article contentDefence lawyer Danielle O’Sullivan requested an 18-month conditional discharge, saying it was the least restrictive sanction that would be appropriate in the circumstances of her client, who had no previous criminal record.Article contentOffender addresses courtArticle contentThe offender addressed the court Tuesday, saying he was prepared to move forward and follow any conditions the judge saw fit.Article contentIn an earlier letter to the court, the teen said he changed schools in Grade 4 because of feelings of isolation and spent much time alone on his computer.Article content“He stumbled across, in his words, ‘a community of people who felt similarly isolated,’” Duffy said. “But the mistake he says he made was not questioning their ideology and goals. They promoted neo-Nazi ideals, violence and anti-social attitudes.Article content“This happened in Grade 8. He says the community was taking advantage of him, and now that he’s in Grade 11, he’s become less angry and found a better group of people,” the judge said.Article content“Admittedly, I still have a ways to go in who I am,” the boy wrote. “To be clear, I find the person I was in middle school deplorable, self-centred and depraved. I’m happy to say I’m not that person and haven’t been for two years now.”Article contentDuffy said the letter described the deterioration of the boy’s mental health, culminating in his arrest.Article content“He says he understands that the statement conveyed (to the crisis worker) was worrying,” the judge said. “He understands why it led to his arrest, causing notable distress to the community, and apologizes for it.”Article contentArticle contentShe said the boy’s writing was “clear, intelligent and sensible for his years. I have given it much consideration. . . . He has certainly laid bare his circumstance, his insight, his remorse, and his resolve to move forward.”Article content Defence lawyers Danielle O’Sullivan and Tony Amoud take questions from reporters in August after their client, a 16-year-old Halifax boy, pleaded guilty in youth court to charges involving weapons seized at his home following his April 23 arrest on threats charges. Photo by Steve BruceArticle contentDuffy told the boy that the circumstances that led to his arrest “have the pallor of extreme violence, of self-harm and of school shootings, among the most dreadful of crimes.Article content“That weighs heavy. That terrifies the community. And you explored these ideas, with guns at your disposal, to a degree that must be deterred immediately and completely.”Article contentShe was quick to add that the boy was to be commended for his “call for help.”Article content“That . . . carried consequences for you, and you have borne them,” she said. “You have borne them to the tune of six months in (presentence) custody. But that is so much better than the price to be paid if left unchecked.Article contentArticle content“That is to your credit. You should be proud of that call. That takes a strength of mind and of character, and you did it.”Article contentShe said a sentence of four months of deferred custody and supervision, followed by 18 months of probation, is a restrained outcome and “the only reasonable alternative to custody that gives meaningful effect to the principles of youth sentencing and the evaluation of risk in these circumstances.Article content“You were on a sinister path, but you have every opportunity to reverse course, and you’ve started to do that. . . . You have engagement and enthusiasm, but it needs to be directed in the right way.Article content“As a young person, and a capable one, you have a long airstrip to achieve success. . . . You have time and you have ability. You need to take that time and use it to leverage your strengths and your merits.”Article contentConditions imposedArticle contentThe boy will be subject to a 6 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew during the period of deferred custody. The rest of his conditions will apply to all 22 months of his supervision.Article contentHe is prohibited from having contact with two students in particular, is not to be within 50 metres of Citadel High unless he has written permission from the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, and cannot possess any weapons.Article contentThe boy can only have a knife for food preparation or consumption or under the direct supervision of an adult.Article contentHe must participate in any treatment deemed necessary by his youth worker, guided by psychologists’ recommendations.Article contentThe judge also placed restrictions on his internet use and banned him from viewing illegal content or visiting social networks, online forums or chat rooms. He must report his browsing history to correctional services as required.Article contentIn addition, she imposed a two-year firearms prohibition and ordered the boy to provide a sample of his DNA for a national databank.Article contentNickerson, the prosecutor, said the judge’s decision was reasoned, articulate and thoughtful and took all factors, including public safety, into account.Article contentHe said the case was unique “because it just never happens very often.”Article content“I know that’s a simplistic answer, but this type of case, I’ve been a Crown for 20 years and I’ve never had one like it before,” Nickerson said.Article contentO’Sullivan did not wish to comment on the decision.Article content
‘A uniquely difficult case’: Halifax boy charged in school threats investigation sentenced for weapons offences
