Ryan Grantham, who is known for his work on the television shows Riverdale and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was given a life sentence. In March 2020, he admitted to killing his mother. A lifetime firearms prohibition has also been imposed on him by the court. The British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver announced the decision.
The actor fatally shot his mother, Barbara Waite, in the back of the head in March 2020 while she was playing the piano in their Squamish, British Columbia, home. Grantham then recorded a GoPro video shortly after the murder, which was later played in court, in which he confesses to killing his mother and displays her body. The next day, he draped a sheet over the body, ringed it with lit candles, and hung a rosary from the piano before loading a car with Molotov cocktails, firearms, and ammo and heading east to Ottawa.
His aim was to murder Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Instead, he drove to Hope, B.C., with plans to carry out a mass massacre at Simon Fraser University, where he was enrolled, or on the Lions Gate Bridge. He ultimately made the decision to surrender himself at the East Vancouver location of the Vancouver Police Department.
Conviction
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker referred to the case as “tragic” and “heartbreaking” after hearing Grantham’s sister speak in her victim impact statement at the trial. The judge referred to Grantham’s decision to turn himself in and refrain from committing mass murder as a “saving grace. () ”
In Canada, a conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, thus Justice Kathleen Ker ruled he must serve 14 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
Career as an Actor
Grantham made his acting debut at the age of nine with roles in “iZombie,” “Unspeakable,” “Way of the Wicked,” “Riese,” and “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,”. In 2017 the young actor played the role of ‘Jeffery Augustine’ in the teen drama ‘Riverdale’.
