B.C. man 'trying to appear cool' with loaded handgun at nightclub sentenced

A 23-year-old British Columbia man who pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded handgun inside a crowded nightclub has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

A 23-year-old British Columbia man who pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded handgun inside a crowded nightclub has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Provincial court Judge David Patterson, in his written sentencing decision released Thursday, said Jesse James Monteith admitted he was just "trying to appear cool and tough" when he brought the Glock 17 pistol into Status Nightclub in Vernon on April 9, 2023.

The 9-mm handgun was fitted with a prohibited overcapacity magazine that could carry up to 27 rounds, though it only held 17 bullets when it was seized by police. Another bullet was found inside the gun's chamber, ready to fire without any active safety mechanism to prevent a misfire if pressure was applied to the trigger, according to the court.

A fellow nightclub attendee called the Vernon RCMP to report Monteith was in the club's outdoor smoking area when he showed someone the gun inside his Louis Vuitton satchel, which the judge referred to as a "murse," or man's purse.

"The complainant also stated that the man with the murse had claimed that the handgun was real," Patterson wrote.

Several police officers descended on the busy downtown nightclub where people several people were still lined up to get inside, the judge wrote.

"Police officers approached and spoke to the doorman and, subsequently, the manager," Patterson wrote.