A jury has found a man accused of fatally shooting five people at a Winnipeg rooming house in 2023 guilty of five counts of second-degree murder.
Jamie Felix had pleaded not guilty in the November 2023 deaths of Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, Dylan Maxwell Lavallee, 41, Shawn Marko, 56, and sisters Crystal Shannon Beardy, 34, and Stephanie Amanda Beardy, 33.
All five victims were shot on Nov. 26, 2023, in what court heard described as a “crack shack” on Langside Street, in the West Broadway neighbourhood.
Two of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others died in hospital.
The fifth, Marko, survived for 18 months after the shooting but died last year. He identified a man named Jamie Houle — the same last name as Felix’s brother — as the shooter, court heard.
The jury returned its verdict just before 5 p.m. on Thursday, after Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Alain G. J. Huberdeau gave them their instructions that morning.
Felix punched a sheriff in the prisoner’s box as he was being escorted from the courtroom. Several officers tried to hold him back, and spectators were ordered to leave the courtroom.
During the trial, which began Feb. 17, Crown attorneys Georgia Couturier and Chantal Boutin argued Felix, despite consuming alcohol and drugs, knew what he was doing and was aware his actions resulted in the deaths of multiple people.
Boutin argued in her closing statement that Felix made the choice to carry a gun in his pocket, followed his father’s instruction to open fire in the house despite not wanting to, tried to shoot himself after the shooting and then fled the home.
Felix later confessed to the killings to his ex-girlfriend and told his mother he wouldn’t be around for much longer, saying he would have fun until “they” came for him, Boutin told court on Monday.
Boutin encouraged the jury to trust the testimony from Felix’s ex-girlfriend, whose identity is protected under a publication ban.
The prosecutor argued the woman’s testimony is corroborated by testimony from other witnesses, including Xena Hall, who was in the house at the time of the shooting.
Defence lawyers Theodore Mariash and Jason Malloy cast doubt on the Crown’s theory, arguing Felix’s late father, Randolph (Chummy) Fagnan, orchestrated the killings.
Felix’s lawyers argued their client was the perfect scapegoat because of his military background, the recent dissolution of his relationship and his addiction to cocaine, Justice Huberdeau summarized in his instructions to the jury.
Several witnesses, including Felix’s ex-girlfriend, testified about his drug misuse, and about a condition he has that causes seizures.
The jury was told Felix felt he was being used by his brother and late father, who jurors heard were selling drugs out of the home where the shooting happened, because of Felix’s military background.
His father provided him with a gun and a bulletproof vest, and made him fire off a round in the back lane behind the Langside Street house before the shootings occurred, jurors were also told.
The defence argued the Crown failed to explain why Felix would carry out the killings.
Four of the five victims were shot in the head, and the other victim, Marko, was shot three times in the chest.
Jurors were told they could return a verdict of not guilty, guilty of second-degree murder or guilty of manslaughter for each of the counts in the deaths of all victims but Marko.
In Marko’s death, the jury was told they could return a verdict of not guilty, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of attempted murder or guilty of aggravated assault.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. The minimum sentence is life in prison with no parole for 10 years, but sentences can be as long as life in prison without parole for 25 years.
