JUDGE SIDES WITH SHOOTER

A man who got so sick of drug deals going on upstairs in his
landlady's house that he fired off a gun as a warning sign got a
conditional discharge Thursday from a sympathetic judge who said the
public is "pretty sick" of dealers and other petty criminals.

"Last night I saw a bunch of guys tipping over stuff and running down
the street. I could have used you," Judge William Diebolt told
27-year-old Sennen Joseph of West Vancouver. "I have a really hard
time giving you a criminal record."

Crown counsel Jeremy Crowhurst said Joseph fired off a rifle into the
air at 4:30 in the morning Dec. 29, 2006 out of sheer frustration.

Crowhurst said at the time, Joseph was renting a basement suite from
a woman who was well-known as a drug dealer on the Squamish Nation's
Capilano Reserve. The people who came to the house to buy drugs often
knocked on Joseph's door instead at all hours of the day and night,
said Crowhurst.

Eventually, said Crowhurst, Joseph decided to do something to "rattle
everybody's cage" and fired off his rifle in the street. "It had the
desired effect of freaking everybody out," he added.

Further drama unfolded as neighbours called the police and members of
the Vancouver Police Department's emergency response team surrounded
the house at 225 Lawa St. after police negotiators were unable to
reach Joseph by phone. Joseph eventually came out of the house at
about 12:30 p.m. the following afternoon.

In court Thursday, Joseph told the judge he acted out of "sheer
frustration." The drug deals were happening "at all hours . . .
pretty much all night," he said.

Crowhurst said since the incident, Joseph has been evicted and the
drug deals are continuing. "As I understand it, it's business as
usual at the house," he said.

The judge said that next time, Joseph should call the police instead.
"Just don't get out the rifle," he said. "We can't have vigilantism
or someone's going to get killed."