Stabber at Cambridge gun store gets absolute discharge

A man found not criminally responsible in a horrific knife attack at a Cambridge gun store in 2019 has been granted an absolute discharge.

Brett Butterfield, 19 at the time, stabbed store owner Dean Carr in the head and neck with a hunting knife and then slashed his own throat.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Butterfield was charged with aggravated assault, but was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

A psychiatric assessment found the Cambridge man did not have the capacity to know stabbing Carr was morally wrong.

In 2021, the Ontario Review Board ordered Butterfield be detained in a forensic hospital.

Last year, the board granted him a conditional discharge.

Last month, it handed him an absolute discharge, saying he “does not present a significant threat to th