A Yukon man has pleaded guilty to murder in connection with the shooting deaths of two people in Faro, Yukon, three years ago.
Ralph Bernard Shaw, 64, pleaded guilty on Monday to first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, 42-year-old Saengduean Honchaiyaphum, and second-degree murder in the death of Patrick McCracken, 73.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the shooting injury of another man that same day.
In addition to the murder and assault charges, Shaw was also charged with four counts of attempted murder and three counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
In an admissions-of-fact document filed to the Yukon Supreme Court last week, at the start of what was set to be a three-week-long judge-alone trial in Whitehorse, Shaw admits to going on a shooting rampage in the town on Oct. 26, 2021, and fatally shooting Honchaiyaphum and McCracken.
Saengduean Honchaiyaphum and Patrick McCracken were both shot to death by Ralph Bernard Shaw, who went on a shooting rampage in Faro on Oct. 26, 2021. (Sang Honchaiyaphum/Facebook, Submitted by Brandy Gulle)
He also admits to discharging a firearm “in circumstances that endangered the life” of four others and, in one case, also caused a wound.
On Monday, the court heard more about the incidents that day as admitted by Shaw and as relayed by witnesses. Crown prosecutors read from several admissions-of-fact documents filed to court.
The court heard Honchaiyaphum had separated from Shaw in August 2021, leaving Faro briefly with her daughters before moving back to the town soon after. She also got a restraining order against Shaw during that time.
Honchaiyaphum began a relationship with another man in Faro, while Shaw left town and moved into the Family Hotel in Whitehorse. That was the man later shot and injured by Shaw.
Early on Oct. 26, 2021, security camera footage shows Shaw leaving his room at the Family Hotel carrying a long-gun case, then putting it into a black truck and driving away.
Just before 1 p.m. Shaw arrived at Honchaiyaphum’s new home in Faro where her new partner and his friend were about to move a couch in. A verbal disagreement began between Shaw and Honchaiyaphum outside on the balcony. She told him to leave multiple times but he wouldn’t.
She also left a voicemail for a friend saying that Shaw was at her home and she asked her friend to call 911.
RCMP investigating in Faro after the shootings in 2021. (Vincent Bonnay/Radio-Canada)
At one point, her partner’s friend heard Shaw say, “OK then,” and gunfire began.
Shaw shot Honchaiyaphum in the back and she fell to the ground. Shaw then shot her partner several times before he was able to flee to a nearby house with his friend.
Shaw then went to that house and started shooting at it. Several bullets entered the house and one hit the partner in the back.
Shaw then drove to McCracken’s house, about two kilometres away. McCracken, home with his wife at the time, answered the door and an argument began between the two men. Security camera footage from a neighbour’s house shows the confrontation, with Shaw repeatedly accusing McCracken of “calling me down,” and McCracken denying that.
Shaw appeared to be leaving when he then turned and shot McCracken once in the back, through the glass screen door. McCracken’s wife witnessed the shooting.
A sign in Faro the day after the shootings in 2021. (Vincent Bonnay/Radio-Canada)
Shaw then drove about 10 kilometres to another house in the Tintina subdivision that belonged to a man who worked with McCracken and whom Shaw believed was also talking badly about him. He began shooting at the house.
The man was not home at the time, but his wife was. She said she saw someone outside shooting from a black truck and shouting to “come outside and fight me like a man.” The woman, who wasn’t injured, called 911.
Just before 2 p.m., about an hour after Shaw first arrived at Honchaiyaphum’s house, RCMP caught up with Shaw at the Tintina subdivision house and arrested him. They found weapons and ammunition in his truck, and he was also carrying a diamond ring, documents including a passport, and about $53,000 in cash, in a fanny pack.
The court heard Honchaiyaphum and McCracken both died from gunshot wounds to the torso. Honchaiyaphum’s partner was shot seven times but survived, and was medevaced to Whitehorse and then Vancouver for surgery.
The court took a break after the Crown finished reading the admissions, with victim impact statements expected to begin Monday afternoon and continue into Tuesday.