The Alberta Review Board has granted additional freedoms for Matthew de Grood, the young man responsible for stabbing five people to death inside a Brentwood home in 2014.
The board said, in a written decision, that de Grood’s schizophrenia and depression are under control and he possesses a ‘very positive’ relationship with his treatment team in Calgary.
As a result, he will be allowed to walk the grounds of the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre under the supervision of two staff members.
But he is still considered a ‘significant’ threat to the public and will not be released just yet.
De Grood was found not criminally responsible for killing Zackariah Rathwell, 21; Jordan Segura, 22; Josh Hunter, 23; Kaitlin Perras, 23; and Lawrence Hong, 27; at a house party in Brentwood on April 15, 2014.
At the beginning of the board hearings on April 6, the families of the victims released a joint statement saying that they see no reason that de Grood should ever be conditionally released from a secure facility.
