Blake Ellis/Local Journalism Initiative

A London man who pointed a gun at police during a tense stand off at a marijuana shop in Kettle and Stony Point is facing more jail time.

Mason Ireland plead guilty to assaulting an officer and possession of a weapon in the June 2020 event. His hearing in Sarnia court Feb. 16 shed light on the incident which police did not report at the time.

On June 19, 2020, police were called to the Paradise Dispensary on Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. A marijuana shop had been set up without proper authorization from the First Nation. A crowd had gathered and was trying to have it shut down.

At one point in the chaotic situation, a fire was set in a nearby building, Assistant Crown Attorney Aniko Coughlan told the court.

Ireland came out the front door of the Paradise Dispensary, she said, and pointed a 22-calibre rifle at an Ontario Provincial Police officer and a band constable. He was ordered by police to drop the gun several times. He ignored them. Police wrestled the gun away from him, ending the standoff. 

Ireland was convicted of a March 19, 2019 armed robbery in London. At the time of the Kettle and Stony Point incident, he was out on bail and was ordered not to have any firearms. 

Ireland was sentenced to an additional year in jail for the incident on top of the four and a half years he’s already serving for armed robbery.

He is serving this sentence at the Beaver Creek Institute in Gravenhurst.