Former Riverdale actor, Ryan Grantham, 24, planned to kill Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau right after murdering his mother in 2020.

Grantham pled guilty to the second-degree murder for the death of his mother back in March 2020. He killed his mother, Barbara Waite, 64, in their townhouse while she was playing the piano.

The following day, he packed his car up with three guns, Molotov cocktails, ammunition, camping supplies and a map leading to Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, where Trudeau and his family live. He set out with a plan to kill Trudeau. Grantham talked about killing Trudeau in a police statement and in a journal that was read in court.

He eventually turned the car around and planned to attack his school, Simon Fraser University, however, he turned himself in to Vancouver police that night.

“I cannot explain or justify my actions. I have no excuse,” Grantham said. “It hurts me to think about how badly I’ve wasted my life. In the face of something so horrible, saying sorry seems so pointless. But from every fiber of my being, I am sorry.”

His lawyer, Chris Johnson, said mental illness played a part in Grantham’s decision-making that day. “It was done in Mr. Grantham’s disordered thinking, to prevent his mother from seeing what he thought he was about to do,” Johnson said. Prosecutors presented psychiatric reports during court which said Grantham suffered from clinical depression, urges to commit violence and a cannabis use disorder.

According to the British Columbia Prosecution Service, second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. He must serve a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years to be eligible for parole.

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