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Friday, November 9, 2018 | Your community

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Granny flash mob G2G PG, the local grandmothers to grandmothers group, danced in a Flash Mob at CNC Thursday afternoon, in preparation for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. There were other similar flash mobs put on across Canada in honour of African grandmothers who are struggling to care for millions of orphaned children with HIV and AIDS. There are roughly 14 million orphaned children by AIDS in Africa. In some countries, up to 60 per cent of these children live in grandmother-headed households. The local grandmothers group, G2G PG, began three years ago with their first fund raiser, The Bring and Buy. Since then they have hosted African grandmothers visits, fashion shows, community sings, gold tournements, film and book launches, bead making and craft workshops, paint nights, guest speakers, flash mobs and potlucks. From all of those events G2G PG has been able to raise $29,000 for African grandmothers.

Prosecutor challenges shooter’s Remembrance Day event happening at testimony on where he got gun temporary cenotaph Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca How a man involved in an exchange of gunfire at a drug house came into possession of the shotgun he wielded has become an issue during a sentencing hearing underway at the Prince George courthouse. Cody Aubrey Lorntsen faces up to six additional months in jail depending on how B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church decides on the matter in relation to a confrontation at a 2000-block Tamarack Street home during the early morning of Oct. 22, 2017. Video presented Thursday shows Lorntsen and three women entering the home through a side door shortly before 6 a.m. and then Lorntsen leaving a bit more than two minutes later. By then, a man had stationed himself at one end of a driveway and the video shows Lorntsen and the man firing at each other – a handful of flashes from muzzles are visible – with Lorntsen’s adversary using a car as cover. Lorntsen, who needed a cane to make his way around the courtroom, was hit in the leg. His dog, which was on a leash the whole time, was shot and killed. Michael Campbell-Alexander faces seven charges, including attempted murder and killing an animal. His case is

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I acted fast and I grabbed the gun and held it... and said ‘nobody’s touching me, I wanna just leave.’ And I left out of the house and wasn’t paying attention and that’s when I got shot and panicked. — Cody Aubrey Lorntsen in the pre-trial stage. Lorntsen was arrested in Quesnel a bit more than a week after the confrontation and admitted to possessing a shotgun found in the stairwell of the apartment building where he had been found. But during testimony Thursday, he denied bringing it with him into the house. Rather, he said he spotted the weapon tucked between the arm and a cushion of a couch just as Campbell-Alexander and another man began to confront him. The two had accused him of being a “ratgoof,” and suggested they mess him up, Lorntsen testified. He said he grabbed the shotgun just as

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the man had looked at Campbell-Alexander, who in turn left the home through another door. “I acted fast and I grabbed the gun and held it... and said ‘nobody’s touching me, I wanna just leave,’” he told the court. “And I left out of the house and wasn’t paying attention and that’s when I got shot and panicked.” Video from a day before show Lorntsen entering Wholesale Sports to buy a stock with a pistol grip. Lorntsen agreed it was the same stock on the gun he fired but maintained he bought it for someone else after dropping by the home and it just so happened to be the one he found tucked into the couch. During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Tyler Bowman challenged the veracity of Lorntsen’s story, saying it was “pretty convenient” and difficult to believe. He suggested Lornsten had hung onto the gun to protect himself because he knew he was at odds with some adversaries. Lorntsen maintained he was simply lucky to come across a loaded shotgun at the right time. “The reason why it would be loaded and stuff, because usually in a shack, like everyone would know there would be a one gun by the door,” Lorntsen also said. “They usually have a door guy at every drug house that I’ve known.” — see ‘THEY WERE, page 3

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Citizen staff The annual Remembrance Day ceremony takes place Sunday at the Prince George Civic Centre beginning at 9:15 a.m. Following the traditional ceremony the parade to assemble will take place along Canada Games Way to the temporary cenotaph on Seventh Avenue, near the Terry Fox Memorial at 10:45 a.m. After the outdoor ceremony the parade will turn back up Seventh Avenue, turn right on Quebec Street, left onto Fifth Avenue, left onto Brunswick, back to Ninth Avenue, and turn left onto Games Plaza. The review platform will be at Seventh Avenue, near Brunswick Street. Dominion Street will not be blocked to allow full access/egress for the Prince George Fire Rescue Service. Parking will be available at the former Days Inn, with access on Quebec Street, Sixth Avenue, or Dominion Street Parking is also available at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, city hall, and the public library. Pay parking is available at the Coast Hotel and Courtyard by Marriott, accessible parking for those with a registered tag is at the parking lot beside the Four Seasons Pool, closest to the Civic Centre. As always refreshments are available at the Royal Canadian Legion, 1116 Sixth Ave. after the ceremonies. See Saturday’s Citizen for a special Remembrance Day feature.

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