Former B.C. army reservist gets house arrest for online shotgun threat against MP

RICHMOND, B.C. — A British Columbia judge has given a former Canadian Army reservist a conditional sentence for posting a video online threatening the life of Richmond member of Parliament Wilson Miao.

B.C. provincial court judge Diana Vandor issued the ruling on Wednesday, handing 30-year-old Peter Liu 60 days of house arrest and 16 months probation after he posted a video online of himself firing a bullet into a picture of the Liberal MP.

The ruling says Liu accused Miao in the video of “being a communist agent for China,” and used “phrases that are often uttered by Islamic extremists just before committing acts of terrorism.”

The judgment says the video shows Liu in a mask and camouflage pants holding up a “political pamphlet” featuring Miao, and saying he will “get what is coming to him,” before putting it on the ground, pumping a shotgun and shooting the pamphlet.

It says friends of Liu’s contacted police “immediately,” and the RCMP’s national security unit began investigating the China-born Canadian citizen, who was also a reservist in the Canadian Armed Forces for five years.

The judge says in the ruling that Liu was co-operative with investigators, remorseful, that he pleaded guilty to uttering threats, and is not considered “a danger to the community.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.

The Canadian Press