Edmonton Journal has reported:

Tariq Aman’s sentencing for a 2023 Edmonton shooting spree was delayed for another month on Thursday after his lawyer said she needed more time to prepare. Court of King’s Bench Justice Avril Inglis agreed reluctantly, while criticizing the defence delays and apologizing to victims who had taken time off to attend the hearing. The Crown is seeking a 15-year prison sentence for Aman, who pleaded guilty in March 2025.

Aman, 34, has been held at the Edmonton Remand Centre since July 2023, when he shot at four vehicles while driving around the city. Two people were injured, including two teenagers who suffered serious arm injuries after shots were fired at a car full of teenagers on Whyte Avenue. The spree ended with a high-speed police chase.

The shootings occurred during the evening of July 15, 2023. Aman and Neanna Wuttunee drove around Edmonton with a handgun that had been stolen years earlier from a local gun range. No motive for the violence has emerged, and elected officials condemned the attacks, including Amarjeet Sohi, who was Edmonton’s mayor at the time.

Aman pleaded guilty 19 months before Thursday’s hearing, but his sentencing has now been delayed four times since the plea. Yodit Kidane, his third defence lawyer, told the court that difficulties with staffing at her office and problems reaching Aman in the remand centre contributed to the latest request.

Kidane said she was still waiting for corrections officials to provide records about Aman’s placements in the remand centre. The information could affect how much credit he receives for time spent in pretrial detention. She also wants an affidavit from Aman describing his experience in pretrial custody.

Inglis recognized that Kidane had become Aman’s lawyer only this summer, but said she should have had enough time to prepare for sentencing. The judge said she did not want to force counsel to proceed while unprepared, because doing so could give Aman grounds for an appeal. She also noted that Aman had refused to take part in two presentence reports she had ordered.

Kidane said Aman’s refusal arose from confusion over whether he could discuss the crimes while there remained a possibility he might challenge his guilty plea. Inglis responded: “So your client’s indecision prevented me from receiving the presentence reports I ordered.”

Prosecutor Kerri Facchinutti opposed a further adjournment. She cited the public interest in having people who have pleaded guilty sentenced promptly and described the frustration of victims who learned only the day before the hearing that a delay was being sought.

“They feel like their time has not been respected, hearing for the first time yesterday an adjournment is being sought,” Facchinutti said. “They expressed being further victimized by this delay.”

Kidane acknowledged the impact on the victims and said Aman was not seeking to avoid sentencing. “This is not a situation where (Aman is) trying to delay getting himself sentenced,” she said. “But he does want to make sure we’re able to prepare the best material we can on his behalf.”

Inglis addressed the victims directly as she explained her decision to grant the adjournment. “I understand your loss of faith that this will actually proceed if I adjourn today,” she said. “I think you all understand, based on things I said to counsel today, that I am also grossly disappointed and upset and disillusioned in this sentencing process as well.”

The judge said the defence was on thin ice and set strict deadlines for future submissions before the next court date, Nov. 27. She apologized to the victims for the repeated delays. Aman sat in the prisoner’s box wearing a black sweater and did not speak during the hearing.

During the July 2023 incident, police disabled Aman’s vehicle and pulled him from the wreckage, which contained empty alcohol cans and 100 grams of fentanyl. He was incoherent and verbally abused officers, saying, “f- you pig … given this as evidence, you’re a lying racist piece of s-”. He continued taunting police on the way to hospital and later said he had been sober at the time.