Salmon Arm Church of Christ, April 2019 (Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly)

By James Peters

BC Review Board

Man who killed mentor inside Salmon Arm church denied greater freedoms

Apr 10, 2024 | 4:02 PM

COQUITLAM — The B.C. Review Board has refused greater freedoms to the man who shot and killed his mentor inside a Shuswap church five years ago.

Matrix Gathergood was charged with first degree murder in the April 2019 shooting death of 78-year-old Gordon Parmenter inside the Salmon Arm Church of Christ.

Gathergood was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder (NCRMD) and now resides at Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam where he is being treated for schizophrenia.

In January, the B.C. Review Board held a mandatory hearing to review Gathergood’s detention.

At the hearing, board members heard from Dr. Miroslava Stingu-Baxter, Gathergood’s treating psychiatrist, who told them Gathergood had been making progress until he contracted COVID-19 in spring of 2023. The COVID diagnosis forced him to come off of one of his antipsychotic medications.

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Recently, Gathergood told the doctor he is still worried about the ‘New World Order’ and stated, “I really wish I wouldn’t have to kill again.” Stingu-Baxter told the board it will be months before the resumption of his medications produces noticeable results.

While Gathergood has taken dozens of escorted leaves off the hospital property, the board concluded he should not receive the privilege of unescorted access to the broader community.

His next hearing is scheduled for next January.