P.E.I. man sentenced to 6 months in jail for possessing unlicensed firearm
CBC
A 25-year old Prince Edward Island man has been sentenced to six months in jail for firearms offences.
RCMP began investigating Matthan Runighan in the summer of 2025 after receiving several complaints about antisemitic posts he allegedly made on social media.
As part of that investigation, police ended up searching Runigahn’s home. According to court documents, investigators found a 12-gauge shotgun in a brown and leather gun case on the floor. Shotgun ammunition was also found in the home.
Tuesday in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown, Justice Gregory Cann accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from the Crown prosecutor and Runighan's lawyer, Conor Mullin.
Runighan was also sentenced to 30 days in jail, which he will serve concurrently, for not checking in with police when he was supposed to on two occasions.
He was given credit for the time he's already served in custody. Runighan will be on probation for two years after his release, is prohibited from owning a weapon for seven and a half years, and will also need to provide the court with a DNA sample.
An agreed statement of facts read in court shows Runighan applied for a firearms licence in November 2024, but was rejected.
The court documents also include text messages from Runighan's cellphone, which was seized by police during the search of his home. Between Feb. 27 and Aug. 8, 2025, Runighan sent messages to 11 different people about purchasing or possessing firearms, including:
Runighan also posted on one of his social media accounts on May 8: “I can’t wait to murder a cop.”
His legs shackled and arms cuffed, Runighan stood in court to speak to his actions. He stated that he only ever wanted a firearm to go hunting and tried to go about the process legally.
“I know the text messages I sent. I don’t know if I was in a state of paranoia or what it was — I know that I felt like I was being watched and that’s not how I talk," he said.
"It doesn’t really show my character at all or who I really am."
Mullin read letters from Runighan’s mother and grandmother speaking to his mental health struggles and alcohol abuse.
They said Runighan once attempted to jump in front of a car, suffered multiple concussions due to being a hockey player and turned to alcohol for a number of years.
The Swale Watchers plan to keep watching.
In a smaller city like Prince Albert, Ramadan can feel different.
About 125 people came out for a town hall meeting on health care in Charlottetown Monday night.
This is the second of two-part CBC News report on Taser use by Edmonton police. To read the previous story, click here.
A Merritt, B.C., father is urging parents to be on the lookout for ticks while the weather warms up, after his six-year-old son was partially paralyzed by a tick bite last week.
About that heartbreaking loss to the U.S. at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey final last month, Sarah Nurse says, “that was the most fun I’ve had in a hockey game in a very long time.”
The U.S. government on Monday said electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla and South Korea's LG Energy Solution had signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich., with an expected production launch in 2027.
In one small town in Alberta, the assistant principal says teachers almost never meet alone with parents anymore.
Tens of thousands of customers are without power and four parts of Highway 401 are closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
Melody Macsemchuk says volunteers at Grace Place in Thunder Bay, Ont., serve between 300 and 350 meals a day.
Groups of volunteers continue to search alongside police for a man who went missing in late January near Owen Sound, Ont., covering land on foot, and using drones for a view of the conservation area where his car was found.
Jessica Hay says her daughter Charlie loves to be included in everything — and a new accessible shopping cart at her local grocery store in Cornwall makes it possible for Charlie to come along for the ride.
The N.W.T. cabinet says it will review whether or not the territory needs an independent child and youth advocate after a motion by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart calling on it to establish such a position was carried in the legislative assembly.