“Don’t you think people would think before pulling the trigger?” said Zukowski.

PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun
DATE: 2004.06.29
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 18
BYLINE: DAN PALMER AND RAQUEL EXNER, EDMONTON SUN

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SHOOTING VICTIM ‘LEERY OF THINGS’ ASSAILANTS SENTENCED IN THORSBY-AREA INCIDENT

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A 65-year-old farmer who, along with his wife, came under shotgun fire while driving into their yard in 2001, says capital punishment should be brought back to deter crime.

“There’s no guarantee, but there’s a good chance it might have (prevented our ordeal),” Ed Zukowski said yesterday, after a judge in a Wetaskiwin court sentenced two men to nine years for the December 2001 shooting.

“Don’t you think people would think before pulling the trigger?” said Zukowski.

Christopher Cain, 25, and Michael O’Bee, 24, each got nine years in prison yesterday, but were given credit for time spent in pre-trial custody. That reduced the sentences to five years each. Both men also got a lifetime firearms prohibition and must submit a DNA sample to the national data bank.

Zukowski said the sentences are too soft.

“It’s way too lenient,” said Zukowski. “They should’ve got 25 years with no parole.”

The men were sentenced on two counts each of discharging a firearm with intent to wound, maim, or disfigure, and one count of break and enter. Cain’s sentence also covered a single count of possession of a shotgun while prohibited. In March, the pair were found guilty of those charges.

Cain and O’Bee were to be retried on two counts each of attempted murder, but the Crown stayed the charges. A jury this spring failed to reach a verdict on the charges.

Patricia and Ed Zukowski were both hit in the face by the shotgun blasts as they pulled into the driveway of their home near Thorsby, 70 km southwest of Edmonton. Cain and O’Bee were arrested the following June after bragging about the shooting to undercover cops.

Zukowski said since the shooting, he hasn’t felt the same and he’s now more “leery of things,” pointing out he’s more “alert” and reacts more to sounds on the farm than before. “I just don’t feel the same as I did before,” he said.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security!!!