SHOOTER GETS 88 MONTHS IN DRUG-TURF KILLING

A Winnipeg man who shot a 14-year-old boy dead during a gang dispute
over drug-selling "turf" was sentenced to 88 months in prison
yesterday in a case the victim's family called a "travesty of justice".

Lance William Laquette, 20, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month
as part of a plea bargain struck with the Crown.

In exchange, the Crown dropped a second-degree murder charge against
Laquette and set three other co-accused free by staying all charges.

Two rival groups -- The "B-Siders" and the "Mad Kowz" -- have been
competing to sell drugs in downtown Winnipeg for several years,
prosecutor Brent Davidson said yesterday in describing the August 2004
killing.

Sirak Okbazion, a member of the Mad Kowz, was killed about 12 hours
after three members of the B-Siders - including Laquette - were shot
at twice while visiting a friend who lived within the rival's "turf",
he said..

Okbazion was at a known crackhouse with fellow Mad Kowz members around
3:30 a.m. when they got a call arranging the sale of cocaine at
another location. As they walked to meet their buyer, several members
of the B-Siders jumped out from behind a fence.

Another man, hiding behind a garbage can, ran out with a gun and
opened fire, court was told.

Okbazion was hit with a .22-caliber shot to the heart and managed to
stagger back to the nearby crackhouse, where he collapsed. His
"friends" dragged him to a nearby boulevard -- not wanting to have
police discover their drug den -- and eventually called 911 from a pay
phone.

Laquette, Royce Darcy Berens and two youths who can't be named were
arrested and charged with murder.

A witness who has 24 prior criminal convictions initially identified a
man named Berens as the shooter. However, Winnipeg police continued to
investigate and found an additional teen witness who claimed Laquette
admitted he'd shot Okbazion.