'Riverdale' star sentenced to life imprisonment after killing mother

Ryan Grantham, in March 2020, pled guilty to second-degree murder after fatally shooting his 64-year-old mother, Barbara Waite, while she was playing the piano. Ryan was 21 years old and confessed to a premeditated plan to kill Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Ryan is a Canadian actor known for playing notable roles such as Rodney James in the film "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and Jefferey Augustine in "Riverdale." The second-degree murder he pled guilty to comes with an automatic life sentence.

His life sentence was handed to him on Wednesday in the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver. Canada's CBC reports that Ryan will not be eligible for parole for 14 years.

According to the outlet, Justice Kathleen Ker called the case "tragic" and "heartbreaking," with Grantham's sister speaking about the "life-shattering" impact of the tragedy.

In delivering her decision, Ker narrated the disturbing details revealed during Ryan Grantham's sentencing hearing in June. With footage from a GoPro video, Ryan was seen confessing to the murder of his mother, who he shot at the back of her head with a .22 rifle.

The next day, Ryan covered Barbara's body with a sheet, hung a rosary and arranged lit candles around it before he left to drive east in a car packed with ammunition and Molotov cocktails. He planned on using them to kill Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Ryan admitted to having thoughts of committing a mass shooting at his school Simon Fraser University or on the Lions Gate Bridge but instead chose to turn himself in and drove to the Vancouver Police Department building in East Vancouver.

People Magazine reports that Crown prosecutor Michaela Donnelly revealed two psychiatric reports that evidenced Ryan's failing mental health at the time. The actor had reportedly been going through an "intense period of clinical depression" in the months leading up to the crime and was "experiencing urges to commit violence and kill himself."

According to those reports, Grantham made the decision to kill his mother "to spare her from seeing the violence he intended to commit." Nevertheless, prosecutors stated that Ryan committed a "heartbreaking breach of trust" and killed his mother even though he had no reason to fear her.