PEI·NewMitchell Lannigan, the man who fired a gun near a community event, shot a dog days later and eventually triggered a shelter-in-place warning in Summerside before police arrested him on a kayak was sentenced Friday to spend five years in federal prison. ‘Residents of P.E.I. do not expect people to be running around with handguns,’ says judgeStephen Brun · CBC News · Posted: Aug 15, 2025 2:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes agoMitchell Lannigan, 28, was on the run for several days before triggering a shelter-in-place warning in Summerside on July 23. (Summerside Police Service)Mitchell Lannigan, the man who fired a gun near a community event, shot a dog days later and eventually triggered a shelter-in-place warning in Summerside before police arrested him on a kayak was sentenced Friday to spend five years in federal prison.Lannigan, 28, pleaded guilty one week ago to eight charges against him. The charges were for offences connected with pointing a gun at someone, shooting and killing the dog, four firearms-related charges and two other counts of violating conditions of a previous release and probation. He initially faced a total of 20 charges, but the remaining counts were stayed by the Crown after Lannigan’s guilty pleas last week. “Residents of P.E.I. do not expect people to be running around with handguns,” Judge Krista MacKay said while sentencing Lannigan in Summerside on Friday. The judge added that while cases like these are rare on P.E.I., they seem to be happening more frequently.The five-year sentence was a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence lawyers, but MacKay adjourned the matter for a week to decide whether she would accept the proposal. Judges in Canada typically have to accept a joint recommendation unless it’s contrary to public interest. The joint recommendation also includes paying $3,000 to the family of the dog he killed, who was also a prized show dog.On the run for several daysThe charges stem from a four-day search for Lannigan that began when RCMP were called about an assault that took place on Harbour Road in the West Prince community of Miminegash on July 19. It was the early hours of Saturday morning on the weekend of the Miminegash Days celebrations when a fight broke out between Lannigan and another man. According to police reports, Lannigan punched the man in the head, leaving him barely conscious. After another man intervened in the scuffle, Lannigan walked off to his truck and returned with a nine-millimetre handgun, which he fired off at least once.Police officers were seen combing Summerside with their weapons drawn as they searched for Lannigan on July 23. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)The Crown said people at the scene were trying to help the injured man, including a woman who Lannigan pointed his gun at.She later told police she thought Lannigan was going to shoot her, and that she “accepted her fate in that moment.”That’s when Lannigan’s girlfriend put herself between her boyfriend and the woman. Lannigan and his girlfriend then left together.A timeline of Lannigan’s whereabouts in the days after the incident was not detailed in court, but the Crown said he did make his way to Charlottetown at one point, where stayed with a cousin in the West Royalty area of the city.WATCH | Lannigan pleads guilty to pointing gun at woman, shooting pug named Buddy:Lannigan pleads guilty to pointing gun at woman, shooting pug named BuddyMitchell Lannigan pleaded guilty Friday to eight charges, three weeks after he punched a man and pointed a gun at a woman who tried to help him. The Crown and defence agreed he should go to prison for five years. CBC’s Nicola MacLeod was in court.He was gone by the time police got there, and wasn’t seen again until the early hours of July 23, when a man woke up in his home in Tyne Valley at around 4:30 a.m. to find Lannigan sitting on his couch holding a handgun.The man said his own son had been in and out of the home during the night, which was not unusual, but this was the first time he saw Lannigan and immediately recognized him from photos circulated by the RCMP. He told Lannigan he was calling the police and left the living room. That’s “when he heard a loud bang.” The man came back to find that his pug, Buddy, who had been sleeping in his crate, had been shot and killed. Lannigan told the man his gun “just went off.”Lannigan and the man’s son fled together in a beige Kia, which was later found near a residence on Murphy Street in Summerside where witnesses told police they saw Lannigan running away.An emergency alert was issued asking the city’s residents to shelter in place. Shortly after, police got a call that a man who looked like Lannigan was boarding “a dingy” on the Glover Shore Road.Police arrived at the scene and arrested Lannigan. A video from an unknown source that circulated on social media shows Lannigan being taken to shore in Summerside by two uniformed RCMP officers on kayaks. The handgun Lannigan was carrying was quickly found in a bag outside of the residence on Murphy Street.Speedy resolutionLannigan has a previous criminal record, including for a break and enter.His lawyer previously said Lannigan is the father of four children and believes these incidents never would have happened if he had not been under the influence of substances like alcohol.Friday’s sentencing marked an unusually swift resolution to court cases in P.E.I., which normally take months or years to resolve. Many accused typically do not make a first appearance in the timeframe in which Lannigan was arrested, charged, pleaded guilty and was sentenced. With files from Tony Davis
Handgun-wielding P.E.I. man who triggered emergency alert sentenced to 5 years in prison
