Attempted murder charges laid against Lethbridge man who fired into residence

By Kerri Sandford on April 18, 2018.

Tim Kalinowski

Lethbridge Heraldtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

Police have laid four charges of attempted murder against a 32-year-old man who shot multiple times with a rifle into a Lethbridge home on Heritage Boulevard West on Sunday evening.

It is alleged Robert John Sheppard discharged his weapon with the intent to kill those inside the home at the time of incident.

“This is a domestic violence-related incident,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Stef of the Lethbridge Police Service at a press conference Tuesday morning. “Our victims are known to our subject … In our minds this was a focused attempt to kill somebody in that house.”

Besides the four attempted murder charges, Sheppard is also charged with one count of discharging a firearm into a place, resisting arrest, careless use, storage of a firearm, pointing a firearm, assault, possession of an offensive weapon dangerous to the public, unauthorized possession of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm/weapon in a vehicle, possession of a firearm/weapon obtained by the commission of an offence and carrying a concealed weapon.

Sheppard was known to police prior to the incident Sunday evening.

The accused appeared in court Tuesday by closed-circuit TV from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre where the court was told the Crown is opposed to the Sheppard’s release and intends to apply to have his bail revoked on several charges from 2016.

Sheppard was scheduled to stand trial in September on single counts of sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault to cause bodily harm, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

The accused, who was represented by duty counsel, returns to court Friday ostensibly for a bail hearing on the new charges and bail revocation on the old charges.

Sheppard was taken into custody early Monday morning by the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team near Granum after fleeing Lethbridge following Sunday night’s shooting.

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