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This article was published 1/4/2016 (1631 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justice officials are seeking a 10-year prison term for a Winnipeg gang member who was just 14 when he shot a teen rival in the head, leaving the victim brain damaged.

Matthew McKay was convicted last year of attempted murder. He was recently ordered to receive an adult sentence for what has been called an attempted execution. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Doug Abra ruled the penalties under the Youth Criminal Justice Act were not sufficient given the brutality of the crime.

"I know what I did is bad. (The victim) is going to have to live the rest of his life as he is. I think about it and feel pretty bad about it," McKay, now 17, told court Friday. He is seeking seven-and-a-half years behind bars. His name can be used because he is no longer under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, where he would have faced a maximum penalty of three years.

Abra has reserved his verdict until May 12.

The now 20-year-old victim, a member of the Mad Cowz, suffered catastrophic injuries in the June 2013 attack and was unable to give a statement to police. He was sitting in a car near Sherbrook Street and Wolseley Avenue when McKay approached it and fired several shots at a close range.

"I shot that (racial slur) with a .45," McKay bragged to a fellow B-sider, a witness told McKay’s trial.

Justice officials classified it as a planned attack. They say the victim was targeted simply because he was on rival turf at the time.

"If you’re in someone else’s territory, you’re taking your life into your hands. It’s almost a standing order in these groups that something is going to happen," said Crown attorney Mike Desautels.

Defence lawyer Manny Bhangu told court Friday that McKay has major cognitive issues, including fetal alcohol syndrome, which played a role in his crime. He said long-term treatment and programming can help get McKay back on the right track.

This shooting was just the latest in a long list of violence between the Mad Cowz and B-side gangs, court was told.

In February 2013, B-side gang member William Moar was shot and killed inside Johnny G’s restaurant on Main Street. A Mad Cowz member, who was 15 at the time, began his first-degree murder trial earlier this week in Winnipeg. Two adult co-accused, also members of the gang, are set to go on trial next year.

There have been numerous other beatings, stabbings and shootings - including at least one other homicide — directly linked to the ongoing hostilities.

The Crown said Friday that a powerful message must be sent to McKay and other gang members that there will be severe consequences for cold-blooded violence.

www.mikeoncrime.com