Court hears details of reserve shooting that killed boy, 5, but still no motive

WETASKIWIN, Alta. – Court has heard the details of a shooting on a central Alberta reserve that killed a five-year-old boy, but there’s still no explanation for the motive.

An agreed statement of facts outlines how three teens hatched a plan to shoot up a house on the Samson Cree First Nation in Hobbema in 2011.

The statement entered in a Wetaskiwin courtroom says four shots were fired, but it’s not clear which one hit the boy.

Ethan Yellowbird was asleep in a child’s fire-truck bed when he was hit in the head by a bullet.

His father, his father’s girlfriend and another youngster were sleeping in a bed next to Ethan’s.

The youths — who were 13, 16 and 17 at the time — pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter.

The reserve south of Edmonton has been plagued for years byviolence. Police have said the teens had ties to gangs.