In Calgary courts: Suspect denies fatally shooting teen in back of head​on February 21, 2025 at 11:45 pm

He said he did not have his eyes on the gun when it went off.

Jal was killed by a single bullet which entered the back of his head near the base of the skull and exited around his right eyebrow.

A date for final arguments by Crown and defence will be set March 7.

A B.C. man accused of second-degree murder told court Friday he fatally stabbed his assailant on a Banff Avenue outdoor patio in a desperate act of self-defence.

John Sproule told a Court of King’s Bench jury he was viciously assaulted by Ryden Brogden outside the Dancing Sasquatch bar after asking the man for a cigarette in the early morning of Sept. 3, 2022, while he was on a family vacation.

Brogden, 27, was killed.

The Priddis resident was stabbed 12 times and suffered an additional seven incised wounds during an altercation pitting Brogden and friend Howard Pearse against the accused and his brother, Josh.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard testimony from Pearse that Sproule demanded a cigarette from Brogden, which led to a fight and his friend’s slaying.

On Friday, Sproule told court he and Josh, who was heavily intoxicated, had been refused re-entry into the Dancing Sasquatch bar after a complaint about their behaviour, and briefly attended another bar.

The accused testified that he and his brother were on their way back to their hotel when he good-naturedly asked Brogden for a cigarette outside the Dancing Sasquatch, but was tersely rebuffed.

That led to Brogden repeatedly shoving him and eventually throwing unprovoked punches at him, said Sproule, who also told court he’d consumed six or seven drinks.

“I was trying to push him off of me, and kept saying ‘I’m done, I’m done — that’s when he lunged toward me and grabbed my shirt,” said Sproule, now 23.

Video from surveillance and cellphone camera recordings played in court presented shadowy, sometimes darkened footage of an altercation on a Banff Avenue sidewalk and street patio.

Sproule told court they showed how he was beaten with his shirt pulled over his head, and eventually pushed against a picnic table on the patio where a rain of blows from Brogden continued.

“He said, ‘I’m going to f-ing kill you, you’re dead’ . . . I was trying to get away the whole time,” Sproule testified.

It was then that he pulled out a folding knife he carried in his right pants pocket for work purposes and began swinging indiscriminately at Brogden, who continued punching him, said the accused.

“I was scared for my life, I had a guy on top of me saying he’s going to kill me,” said Sproule, adding he swung his knife for about five seconds.

“I defended myself, I was swinging frantically . . . I had no other option at that time.”

When asked by defence lawyer Cory Wilson if he intended to kill Brogden, Sproule said he didn’t.

The video shows at least one bar staff member rushing to the street patio to pull the combatants apart.

Another CCTV video shows the Sproule brothers fleeing down Banff streets and alleys with several men in pursuit.

“There were multiple people chasing after us, screaming if they caught us, we’d be dead,” testified Sproule.

He said he and his brother then called 911 while hiding beneath a parked RV, with audio played in court appearing to include Josh Sproule saying, “I don’t want to die.”