A 32-year-old Saskatoon man is guilty of attempted murder after shooting another man in the face with a shotgun in the summer of 2015.

Dale Ahpay will be sentenced in Court of Queen's Bench in January.

Justice Richard Danyliuk summarized what happened on the 300 block of Avenue R South that June morning in a 64-page judgment.

The story begins in the early hours of June 22, 2015 with Ahpay walking through the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood near St. Paul's Hospital with a sawed-off shotgun and a backpack full of drugs.

"He had no destination in mind but 'stopped here and there.' Wherever his feet took him, he went," Danyliuk wrote.

"He was going to make money by selling drugs."

Ahpay described how he spotted three men dressed in blue, a colour adopted by "other people I didn't get along with." Ahpay said the men looked aggressive so he showed his shotgun, which caused them to run back into a townhouse.

But they returned, and began chasing him down the alley.

"One took a shot at him, from what turned out to be a sawed-off rifle. Mr. Ahpay returned fire," Danyliuk wrote.

The three men split up, with Ahpay chasing the victim down what turned out to be a dead end.

'I shot him point blank'

In an interview later with police, Ahpay said, "I don't think he's going to live man, I shot him point blank to the head," he said.

"I put him down like the dog he is."

While in the police holding room, Ahpay began pacing and talking to himself. Timecoded sections of the audiotape are reproduced in Danyliuk's judgment.

At 05:27 hours: "I'm a thug. I'm just trying to survive."

At 05:50 hours: "I know I'm going to regret it, because I'm going to be in jail the rest of my life."

At 05:52 hours: "I know what I done on Avenue R but he shot first. The guy shot first and I jumped to the side, it was pretty close."

At 05:53 hours: "He dropped his gun and I ran at him and popped him."

At 06:28 hours: "These kids are bucking and they are aiming high. It's all over drugs and turf."

Danyliuk stayed a count of aggravated assault against Ahpay.