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Highway shooting spree suspect remains unfit to stand trial

Hwy shooter found unfit

A man suspected of taking potshots at semi-trucks while traveling along northern B.C. highways has been found unfit to stand trial due to a mental disorder.

The finding in relation to Peter Anthony Kampos was issued Friday by a B.C. Supreme Court Justice.

Kampos was apprehended in March 2017 near Chilliwack roughly a day after RCMP began receiving reports of shots being fired at commercial vehicles along Highway 16 West and Highway 97 South.

Kampos was subsequently charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a man on a forest service road near the Fraser Valley community.

Kampos has remained in custody since his arrest and a trial on the charge began in October 2018. After Crown prosecution closed its case, the issue of Kampos' fitness to stand trial was raised by his counsel.

Kampos has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffers from delusions. He is being treated with anti-psychotic medications and, according to Justice Martha Devlin, he is improving but remains below the point where his is able to instruct his counsel.

"I expect that with further treatment and the passage of a little time that Mr. Kampos's delusions may subside to the point where he is able to rationally communicate with counsel," Devlin found. "However, to force Mr. Kampos to continue with his trial in his present state would violate trial fairness, which underlies the fitness rules."

It was the third time Devlin has found Kampos unfit to stand trial.



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