Clayton Mandes Junior says it should have been him who died, instead of the friend he accidentally shot.

"It should have been me in the ground," he said to the family of Denzel Cameron, who died on Sept. 14, 2024, in a home at Beardy's and Okemasis Cree Nation.

"I'm the one that should have known not to play with a gun," he said. "I truly, I am sorry that I've taken your son, brother, father figure from you guys."

Mandes, 22, spoke last week during his sentencing hearing at the provincial court circuit point at Beardy's, about 80 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. He had pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing Cameron, 28.

Court heard they were socializing and drinking, and at one point Cameron left and returned with a sawed-off .22, because the woman who lived in the house had rece

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