Drug deal catalyst for shooting

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• Familiar home yields drugs
• Shooting in downtown Kamloops

An attempted drug-deal extortion gone haywire preceded a shooting in a downtown Kamloops apartment last year that landed a 51-year-old man in hospital.

The Crown opened its case against Brandon Schell in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

The 28-year-old is standing trial on charges of extortion, discharging a prohibited firearm and aggravated assault.

He was also charged with attempted murder, but the Crown is not proceeding on that count.

Schell was arrested in connection with the shooting of Arthur Burley last November inside an apartment in the 300-block of Seymour Street.

Trevor Taylor, 27, was also arrested and charged following the shooting and was slated to stand trial alongside Schell.

However, Taylor accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilt earlier this week to one count of obstructing justice.

Crown prosecutor Don Mann said the two men — Schell, known by the nickname “Cheddar” and Taylor, going by “Tre” — showed up at an apartment at 352 Seymour St. in the early-morning hours of Nov. 5, 2011.

Mann said they put pressure on people inside the apartment to buy drugs.

Burley, a friend of the people who lived in the apartment, showed up later, Mann said.

“Mr. Burley took exception to some things that this individual Cheddar was saying,” Mann said.

“He made reference to him being referred to as ‘an asshole’.”

Mann said Schell took exception to the name-calling.

“He pulled a handgun and shot Mr. Burley in the right-shoulder area,” Mann said.

Burley left the apartment and approached a couple walking down the street outside and they called 911.

He was treated in hospital and later released.

Mann said police recovered a bullet from a hole in the wall of the Seymour Street apartment.

Schell’s trial is expected to last 10 days.