Judge sends dedicated student, musician, friend’s ‘backup’ to prison for role in shooting death
He was a university student and promising musician who had never been in trouble with the law.
Then he agreed to provide a friend “backup” for a confrontation that ended in the shooting death of Lawrence Pruden outside a Winnipeg bar.
Now, 24-year-old Nathaniel Gatehouse-Gilchrist is in a prison cell, serving a 12-year sentence for manslaughter.
FACEBOOK Lawrence Evan Pruden
Co-accused Bryce Walker pleaded guilty last fall to second-degree murder, admitting to shooting Pruden near Classics Billiards Bar and Grill, Nov. 5, 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Walker and Gatehouse-Gilchrist shared a “common intention” to threaten Pruden as he left the bar, where he was celebrating his 27th birthday, Crown attorney Vanessa Gama said at a recent sentencing hearing.
Gatehouse-Gilchrist “objectively foresaw the risk of bodily harm necessary for manslaughter but could not foresee the risk of death for murder, in the sense that he did not know Walker was going to shoot and kill Pruden,” Gama told King’s Bench Justice Ted Bock.
Court heard Walker and Gatehouse-Gilchrist had taken a taxi to the bar shortly after 12:30 a.m. and lingered in the area for nearly 80 minutes before a female friend picked them up in a car.
Security video during the intervening time showed Walker carrying a handgun and practising a “shooting stance,” Gama said.
Pruden and a friend left the bar around 2 a.m. and were about to drive away when Walker and Gatehouse-Gilchrist exited their vehicle.
Walker approached Pruden’s vehicle and fired seven shots through the passenger window, one of which hit Pruden in the head.
Walker and Gatehouse-Gilchrist ran back to their car as Pruden’s friend, injured by a ricochet to his cheek, called 911 and returned to the bar for help.
Gatehouse-Gilchrist directed the female friend to drive to a nearby house where he ran inside and returned to the car with a garbage bag containing a change of clothes for him and Walker. The two men changed clothes inside the car and after driving away exited separately a short time later.
Defence lawyer Zach Kinahan described Gatehouse-Gilchrist as a dedicated student and talented musician who fell into drug and alcohol abuse during the pandemic.
“He says he was juggling two lives and two lifestyles without being able to see his true direction,” Kinahan said.
Gatehouse-Gilchrist was “at an all-time low… at the time of these events and he deeply regrets the decision he made,” he said. “It was not (his) intention for someone to get seriously hurt and lose their life.”
Bock said Gatehouse-Gilchrist’s “demonstrated history of achievement” provided “real hope” that he will go on to lead a productive life after he has served his sentence.
Bock credited Gatehouse-Gilchrist for time already served, reducing his remaining sentence to 10 1/2 years.
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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Credit: Judge sends dedicated student, musician, friend’s ‘backup’ to prison for role in shooting death
