The daughter of a man shot and killed in a standoff with police near Valemount three years ago was issued a conditional discharge for her role in the incident.
During a hearing at the Prince George courthouse, Shanna Buehler, 24, was described as a victim of a violent and abusive father who dragged her into very difficult and tragic situation.
John Robert Buehler, who was 51 years old at the time of his death in September 2014, was a large, strong man with a history of violence who had trouble getting work due to his volatile personality.
By 2008 he had become extremely religious and came to believe he was an Old Testament prophet of God and that Armageddon was imminent. He was preparing for what he thought would be the end of days, amassing food, firearms, ammunition and other materials like soap and batteries.
He also kept four large German shepherd dogs which he trained to attack.
From an early age, Shanna Buehler was extensively abused both emotionally and physically by her father, Crown counsel Geoffery McDonald told the court. Acts included beatings with a belt and forcing her to hold liquid soap in her mouth. "In one instance, he apparently beat a pet to death with a hoe," McDonald said.
During the time they lived on a rented property in Valemount, John Buehler allowed her to leave the home just six times and only under careful supervision. She was also denied access to newspapers, television and any outside contact.
"Her only viewpoint of the world was the one given to her by her father," McDonald said. "It's not surprising then that she came believe that her father really was a prophet and that Armageddon was near and she was willing to obey his orders."
After his marriage broke up, Buehler and his daughter had moved to Valemount and in spring 2014, he had purchased a small travel trailer and had moved onto Crown land near Camp Creek, a public trails area near the community of about 1,000 people 285 kilometres east of Prince George.
The first run-in with police occurred in June 2014, when two residents had gone to speak to Buehler because the trailer was blocking access to public trails they wanted to use. In turn, Buehler chased them off, saying the dogs will kill them and any of their animals.
When RCMP showed up, Buehler used the dogs as a shield and refused to leave the property for several hours. Conversely, Shanna Buehler cooperated with police, yelling at her father to give himself up.
Ultimately, her father did give himself up and the dogs were seized, as were several firearms, an unlicensed handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
John Buehler was released on a police undertaking and in July 2014 he applied to have the dogs returned to him. Crown counsel objected because the dogs had been used as weapons. A judge decided to release the dogs to Shanna Buehler but in doing so, they were effectively released back to her father.
Becoming increasingly paranoid, John Buehler moved the trailer further back into the bush and by early-August 2014 they had discovered a trapper's cabin about 60 kilometres outside Valemount in a location so remote it could only be reached by boat or forest service road.
The two abandoned the trailer and began living in the cabin. But in September 2014, the cabin's owner had shown up to prepare for the trapping season. He found a different lock on the gate and as he walked closer to the cabin, John Buehler confronted him and said he wasn't going to leave.
The trapper retreated and reported what had occurred to the police. While the RCMP was mobilizing resources, Buehler took a chainsaw to a bridge leading to the cabin and then burned the crossing down.
In the process, he trapped a group of hunters on the other side of the bridge. The RCMP rescued them while their pickup truck had to be left behind on the forest service road.
Over the following 10 days, RCMP deployed two emergency response teams and a crisis negotiation team but because of the remote location and the dense forest, they could not find a way to make safe contact with John Buehler. There was also no cell service and because of the dogs, the RCMP could not approach the cabin unseen and leave a radio to communicate with him.
On the evening of Sept. 17, 2014, the Buehlers drove about two kilometres away from the cabin on small all-terrain vehicles and an RCMP emergency response team moved in to prevent the two from returning to the cabin.
As they took up positions around the building, the sun set and the site was in total darkness. An armed John Buehler returned and charged towards the cabin, refusing to stop despite rounds of beanbag shots and flash-bang devices. RCMP shot him dead when he attempted to use his rifles on police.
Shanna Buehler was about 50 metres back from the cabin on the driveway and had turned off her all-terrain vehicle, retreated a few feet and placed her .22-calibre rifle next to a log.
With the help of flashlights on the ends of their guns, three RCMP found her crouched behind the log. Told to stand with her arms up, Shanna Buehler initially complied but then crouched down and grabbed the rifle.
"Don't do it," one of the officers said, but she stood up with the rifle and another officer shot her three times. She fell to the ground and RCMP immediately began first aid and evacuated her.
They used the hunters' pickup to drive her to the creek where the bridge had been destroyed then carried her by hand to the other side where they used another pickup truck to take her to another washout on the forest service road and then transferred toan ambulance on the other side.
"Shanna Buehler survived because of the RCMP officers," McDonald said.
Two of the gunshot wounds were superficial but one entered her chest, traversed her lung and struck her liver. She remained in hospital for six weeks and continues to suffer the effects as well as some post-traumatic stress.
After her release, she turned herself into police and was released on a recognizance which she has obeyed ever since.
Although Buehler, who now lives in Alberta, participated in a lengthy armed standoff with police, "in many ways she is a victim of John Buehler as well," McDonald said.
"We would not expect someone who had been abused and controlled and manipulated from early childhood to be able to exercise an independent mind and step clear," he added. "We can all be grateful that she didn't harm anyone in this process."
In sentencing her, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Ball accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels. Buehler, who pleaded guilty to three charges, must serve 18 months probation and if she lives up to the terms and conditions, she will avoid having a criminal record.
"This was obviously a very difficult and tragic incident brought about by what appears to have been the bizarre beliefs of John Buehler who unfortunately dragged his daughter along for the ride," Ball said.
"She was, as counsel had told me, abused and certainly under his control and now that this incident is over, her circumstances have clearly changed and I expect we're seeing her true character come forward."
Buehler remained quiet throughout the hearing, occasionally wiping away a tear as her mother looked on from the gallery. She appeared relieved at conclusion of sentencing.
