SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A 22-year-old man from Langley, B.C., who brought a loaded handgun into two downtown Yellowknife bars last year was sentenced to three years and three months in prison on Friday.

Joshua Luke Petten, 22, was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars on Friday for taking a loaded handgun into downtown bars last year. - photo courtesy of Facebook

Joshua Luke Petten will receive enhanced credit for the time he served behind bars awaiting his sentence. Arrested on March 10, 2013, Petten has been jailed at the North Slave Correctional Centre (NSCC) for nearly 14 months. Justice Karan Shaner gave him credit for 21 months served, meaning Petten has 18 months left in his sentence.

Petten would have received credit for more time, but "behavioural difficulties" while at NSCC deducted about 11 days off his remand credit.

According to facts read before the court, Petten flew into Yellowknife from B.C. the day of his offence, and obtained at least 3.5 grams of cocaine and a Colt .45 semi-automatic handgun.

In a pre-sentence report, Petten admitted to ingesting all 3.5 grams of cocaine that night, as well as 20 shots of hard liquor and injecting six millilitres of steroids into his blood stream.

"I was juiced right up and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he told the author of the report.

Petten and a 17-year-old male accomplice went to Harley's Hard Rock Saloon and later the Raven Pub while carrying the handgun, which was loaded with six rounds, including one in the chamber ready to fire.

While at the Raven, Petten became aggressive with staff when they tried to shut the bar down for the night.

"You don't know who I am. If you're talking to me, you're talking to the Nomads," said Petten, asking his youth accomplice to pass him the handgun.

Petten now denies any affiliation with the Nomads, but a pre-sentence report notes RCMP and probation services in B.C. refer to him as the "enforcer" of the '856' gang based out of the lower mainland B.C.

"I don't know where this '856' came from; we are a group of friends - not a pack of criminals," Petten told the author of the report.

Yellowknife RCMP have targeted the 856 gang over the last two years, alleging its members are heavily involved in crack-cocaine trafficking in the city.

Witnesses say Petten challenged bar staff to a fight outside. While leaving the bar, Petten took the handgun from his youth accomplice, but instead of following him outside, bar staff shut the door behind him and locked it. Petten became enraged, yelling, "you want some heat? You want some heat?" at the door.

Petten and the youth eventually got into a cab, where Petten brandished the handgun again, pointing it at his own head and asking the driver, "if I shoot myself, will you miss me?"

RCMP were called to the scene and executed a high-risk take down at Mac's convenience store on Franklin Avenue.

According to a pre-sentence report, Petten has had trouble with cocaine, marijuana and steroid use in the past. He also references a troubled childhood, where he was bullied about his weight and suffered a tumultuous upbringing with an alcoholic father and a mother with mental illness.

Nonetheless, the pre-sentence report also notes Petten grew up in a "middle class, good neighbourhood" in a "large, well-kept home."

Shaner said while his background factored in to her decision, it does not excuse his behaviour that night.

The mandatory minimum sentence for carrying a loaded, restricted firearm is three years in prison.

Shaner also banned Petten from owning a firearm for 20 years.

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