'Riverdale' actor Ryan Grantham, 24, sentenced to life in prison for killing mother

He admitted to fatally shooting his 64-year-old mother on March 31, 2020, with a single gunshot to the back of the head while she played the piano. Photo: Handout

A former Canadian kid star who acted in the hit television shows Riverdale and Supernatural has been sentenced to life in prison for the killing of his mother.

Ryan Grantham, 24, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder for the killing of Barbara Waite. He admitted to fatally shooting his 64-year-old mother on March 31, 2020, with a single gunshot to the back of the head while she played the piano.

The shooting took place in their home in Squamish, British Columbia, about 50 miles (80.5km) north of Vancouver.

Grantham won’t be eligible for parole for 14 years, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday (Sept 21).

In a video that was taken with a GoPro camera and shot shortly after the murder, Grantham confessed to the killing and showed his mother’s body.

“I shot her in the back of the head,” he said in the clip. “In the moments after, she would have known it was me.”

During his sentencing hearing in June, authorities revealed that the then-21-year-old man also planned to drive to Ottawa to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The following day, he packed his car with guns, ammunition, as well as 12 Molotov cocktails. He also brought Google Maps directions to Rideau Cottage, where Trudeau lives.

Grantham also thought of driving to the university where he was enrolled to commit a mass shooting, authorities said. But later that night he drove to the Vancouver Police Department building in East Vancouver and turned himself in.

In June, on the third and final day of his sentencing hearing, Grantham told the court that he was sorry and that his mother did not deserve to die.

“I cannot explain or justify my actions. I have no excuse,” said Grantham. “It hurts me to think about how badly I’ve wasted my life.”

He added: “In the face of something so horrible, saying sorry seems so pointless. But from every fibre of my being, I am sorry.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service