Canadian actor Ryan Grantham has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his mother two years ago. After the fact, he is also said to have tried to kill Prime Minister Trudeau.
Former "Riverdale" and "Greg's Diary" actor Ryan Grantham has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Canada. This is reported, among other things, by the US industry portal "Deadline". He has no chance of parole for 14 years. The 24-year-old shot his mother in March 2020.
The second-degree murder verdict was handed down in Vancouver by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker, according to Deadline. According to CBC, second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence in Canada. The verdict was about how long the former child star would have to wait before he could apply for parole.
Grantham turned himself in to police shortly after shooting his 64-year-old mother from behind while she was playing the piano at the family home in Squamish, north of Vancouver, on March 31, 2020. Grantham, an experienced marksman and gun owner, is said to have meticulously planned the crime a day in advance. After the murder, he covered his mother's body with a white cloth and lit candles around her.
With numerous weapons, ammunition and Molotov cocktails in his luggage, Grantham then wanted to drive to Rideau Cottage in the Canadian capital Ottawa, where according to media reports Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was staying. The then 21-year-old also wanted to kill him, his motive is still unclear. He drove about 200 kilometers east to the town of Hope before turning around and contemplating committing a mass shooting at Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge or at Simon Fraser University, where he had studied. Instead, he drove to a Vancouver police station, where he told an officer, "I killed my mother."
In June 2022, the trial in which the former actor pleaded guilty and showed remorse began. According to media reports, Grantham said: "I can't explain or justify my actions. I have no apologies. It hurts me to think how much I've wasted my life. In the face of something so horrible, it seems so pointless to apologize . But I'm sorry from every fiber of my being." According to media reports, he sought psychiatric help in prison.
Grantham, who began his acting career in 2007, played Jeffery Augustine on the fourth season of Riverdale in 2019. He also appeared in the 2010 film Greg's Diary: Surrounded by Idiots! as well as in "Supernatural" and "iZombie" among others.
