SASKATOON — Zennen Clyde Thomas was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for the 2022 shooting death of 21-year-old Kaylum Tom. Thomas had originally been charged with second-degree murder but later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
At a sentencing hearing on Jan. 22 in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench, Crown prosecutor Jaimie MacLean argued for a 14-year prison sentence, while defence lawyer Tanis Talbot sought a sentence between nine and 12 years. Justice Natasha Crooks reserved her decision until Feb. 12, when she delivered the 14-year sentence.
“It was just an absolutely senseless act of violence,” that was at the “near-murder” end of the manslaughter range, said the Crown.
According to an agreed statement of facts, on Dec. 1, 2022, Tom and his brother went to a suite at 126 Avenue W South to visit relatives and pick up some tattoo equipment, arriving in a white minivan with several others who stayed in the vehicle. Around the same time, Thomas and two others also went to the same suite, though the groups weren’t connected.
Thomas later waited outside the building for a cab. Tom and his brother returned to their minivan but remained inside, where Tom’s brother referred to the other group as “Squids,” a term linked to the Terror Squad street gang.
When a taxi arrived, Thomas approached it but didn’t get in. Tom and his brother then walked toward the cab. Court heard that comments were exchanged about gang affiliation before Thomas pulled out a firearm, pointed it at them, and fired a single shot, striking Tom in the chest.
Tom retreated to the minivan, and Thomas got into the taxi and left. Moments later, a police officer on routine patrol was flagged down by people in the minivan. Tom was taken to hospital and pronounced dead at 12:04 p.m.
The Crown listed several aggravating factors, including the unprovoked nature of the shooting, the use of a firearm, Thomas’s lengthy criminal record – including weapons offences – and a pre-sentence report assessing him as a high risk to re-offend with limited insight into his behaviour or its impact on the victim’s family. She acknowledged mitigating factors, including Thomas’s guilty plea, his Indigenous background and Gladue factors, his low education, addiction issues, and his diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). But she argued these didn’t significantly reduce his responsibility for this “grave offence.”
Defence lawyer Tanis Talbot argued that Thomas’s moral blameworthiness should be considered lower because of his cognitive impairments and significant Gladue factors.
Thomas has been in custody since his arrest on Dec. 19, 2022, and received 1.5-to-1-day credit for time served.
