Grantham also pondered killing Justin Trudeau and committing a mass shooting at his university
Riverdale actor Ryan Grantham has been jailed for life after admitting he shot his mum dead while she played the piano.
The 24-year-old Canadian actor, known for his role in the popular teen series as well as parts in shows such as Supernatural and iZombie, went on trial earlier this year accused of fatally shooting his mother, Barbara Waite, in the head.
At his trial it was revealed Grantham had also been plotting to kill Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
After pleading guilty, Grantham was charged with second-degree murder for killing Waite.
During the sentencing this week at the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver, Justice Kathleen Ker sentenced Grantham to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first 14 years.
After the verdict, his lawyer Chris Johnson said he believed the sentence was “the lowest” his client could have expected “under the circumstances.”
He conceded: “There’s a lot of aspects to the case that are more equivalent to first degree [murder] than they are with second degree.”
The court was earlier told how Grantham had appeared to rehearse the killing in the days leading up to it.
According to a report by CBC, Grantham, shot Waite in the back of her head once with a .22 rifle as she played piano in their Squamish townhouse on March 31, 2020.
In a GoPro video Grantham took a short while later, he confessed to the murder and showed his mother’s body.
The next day Grantham was said to have covered the body with a sheet, arranged lit candles around it and hung a rosary from the piano before driving off in a car packed with guns, ammunition and Molotov cocktails, with the intention of travelling to Ottawa to kill Trudeau.
When he got to Hope, CBC reported, Grantham turned around with thoughts instead of committing a mass shooting at Simon Fraser University where he was enrolled, or on the Lions Gate Bridge.
Later that evening he instead drove to the Vancouver Police Department building in East Vancouver and turned himself in.
Grantham’s sister, who found the body of their mum, told the court of the devastating impact the incident has had on her, saying: “How can I trust anybody when my only sibling chose to execute my mom when her back was turned?”
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