As trial set to begin, Halifax mans pleads guilty to 2016 double shooting

A man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection to a 2016 killing in Halifax.

Just as jury selection was about to get underway for a first-degree murder trial in Dartmouth on Tuesday, a Nova Scotia man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Naricho Clayton, 23, was one of two people shot – and found inside a vehicle – on the night of April 19, 2016.

Clayton, who suffered from multiple gunshot wounds, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other man, 31, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. The 31-year-old survived his injuries.

The shooting happened in the 2000 block of Gottingen Street in Halifax, when police responded to shots fired at 10:58 p.m. that night.

On Tuesday, potential jurors waited and waited – but were told by the judge they were no longer needed. That’s because Tyrell Peter Dechamp entered the guilty pleas, just as his trial was set to begin.

“Mr. Dechamp decided to acknowledge responsibility today,” Crown prosecutor Tanya Carter told reporters outside the courtroom. “We were able to advise the family straight away, and they were very relieved. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been nine-and-a-half years.”

In December 2017, more than a year-and-a-half after the shootings, Dechamp, 27, was arrested at the Atlantic Institution correctional facility in Renous, N.B. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

The other murder charge stems from the fatal shooting of Tyler Richards, 29. Officers responded to a home in the 6900 block of Cook Avenue at 7:55 p.m. on April 17, 2016. Officers found the body of Richards inside. His death was later ruled a homicide.

Criminal history

Later in April, Dechamp was arrested in Ottawa on a Canada-wide warrant for being unlawfully at large.

At the time of the shootings, Dechamp was on a statutory release from prison, where he had served two-thirds of a sentence for second-degree murder and aggravated assault in connection with another case.

He had failed to return to a halfway house on Gottingen Street the night of Clayton’s death.

Parole documents revealed he killed a man, Matthew Ayre, by stabbing him in the neck – and punched a woman hard enough to cause bleeding of the brain.

A jury found Dechamp guilty of first-degree murder in March of 2020 in the death of Tyler Richards. That carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Dechamp appealed the conviction but was unsuccessful.

Nine-and-a-half years

It’s been nearly nine-and-a-half years since the double shooting on Gottingen Street.

Dechamp’s trial was originally set to begin in 2020, but COVID-19 put a pause on that.

Then in 2022, as it was about to get started, he fired his lawyer, which prompted another delay.

During a brief agreed statement of facts read in court on Tuesday, there was no mention of possible motive or connection between Dechamp and Clayton or Whynder.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 15.

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