http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-man-sentenced-in-danzig-street-shooting-case-1.1771641#ixzz2ybZ05mza
Published Friday, April 11, 2014 11:27AM EDT
Last Updated Friday, April 11, 2014 3:18PM EDT
A Toronto man has pleaded guilty to eight charges in connection with the July 2012 Danzig Street shooting that left two people dead and injured two others.
Nahom Tsegazab pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and six counts of aggravated assault at a court hearing on Friday.
The shooting occurred at a neighbourhood barbecue outside a community housing complex on Danzig Street in Toronto’s east end. Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23, were killed in the cross-fire.
Nahom Tsegazab as depicted in a court sketch.
The victim impact statement from Joshua Yasay’s 5-year-old brother reads: ‘I feel lonely and sad.’
Tsegazab, 20, who co-organized the barbeque, had handed out school supplies and basketballs to neighbourhood children in the afternoon. Later in the day, he passed out free shots of cognac while a DJ serenaded a crowd of more than 200 people.
The night took a turn when Tsegazab said he heard someone was coming to “shoot up” the Scarborough barbecue.
“Sometime shortly after 9 p.m., a young woman attended the barbecue and advised, among others, Nahom Tsegazab that an individual was threatening to come shoot up the party,” Crown attorney Tom Pittman told court on Friday, reading from an agreed statement of facts. “At this time Nahom Tsegazab armed himself with a .40-calibre semi-automatic firearm.”
At around 10:40 p.m., the first gunshots rang out, but they didn’t come from Tsegazab. Tsegazab was shot twice, once in his right arm and once in his abdomen, court heard. The unidentified shooter turned and ran through the crowd, Pittman said.
Tsegazab fell to the ground, pulled out his gun and “recklessly fired 11 rounds into the direction of the shooter as he fled through the large crowd,” Pittman said.
As the shooter fled from Tsegazab, an “unknown shooter fired 14 9-mm rounds into the crowd.
“As this unknown male discharged his firearm, Shyanne Charles ran into the path of the bullets, was struck a number of times and succumbed to her injuries at the doorstep of unit 203 Danzig St. The additional rounds were fired indiscriminately into the crowd, striking numerous individuals as they tried to flee from the barbecue,” Pittman said.
Yasay was shot in the back as he attempted to flee, and died almost immediately, though it is not clear who fired the shot that killed him, Pittman said.
Though Tsegazab may not have actually fired the bullets that killed Yasay and Charles, there is a direct connection between his actions and the deaths and injuries, Pittman told the court.
Among those who were shot and survived were a 15-year-old girl, who was shot in her arm, and a two-year-old boy who was shot in the back of his head, court heard.
Both the Crown and defence lawyers requested a 14-year sentence, a sentence the judge agreed was “just and fair.” With time spent in pre-trial custody, Tsegazab has another 11 years and five months to.
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