Saskatoon first-degree murder trial hears how gang tensions may have led to 35-year old man's death

Crown prosecutors called their first three police witnesses in the first-degree murder trial of a man charged in the death of 35-year-old Winston Littlecrow.

The youth, who was 16 at the time of the alleged slaying cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He’s facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Littlecrow, who was found shot outside a residence in the 200 block of Avenue X North.

Crown prosecutor Melodi Kujawa outlined her case before Judge Sanjeev Anand saying the Crown’s case will show this was a gang-motivated death. Littlecrow was a member of Indian Posse, the accused, a member of the rival gang Terror Squad.

Constable Robert Stanviloff was the first witness to take the stand at provincial court on Monday. He told the court he was the first officer who responded to a call about an injured man at around 7:22 a.m., on Avenue X North on Dec. 7, 2019.

Const. Stanviloff testified when he arrived on scene he found a man later identified as Littlecrow laying on his back outside the house. With snow covering the ground where the victim laid, beside him was a woman in the fetal position, sobbing and crying in what the officer described as a state of shock, Stanviloff said.