Two Glock 19 handguns which were used in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Dante Andreatta were shown to a jury on Friday.
Assistant Crown attorney Arian Khader asked Det. Jason Hillier, who is narrating an extensive agreed statement of facts, to show the guns to the jury and the defendants at the trial for Rashawn Chambers, Jahwayne Smart and Cjay Hobbs.
Khader told the judge and the lawyers that Hillier would first prove that the firearms were safe, before the guns would be shown to the accused, counsel and the jurors.
Hillier then unsealed a small gun box that he said Smart was carrying at the time of his arrest. After inspecting the gun next to the witness box, Hillier walked towards the three accused who were sitting in the prisoner’s box and showed them the gun.
Smart’s lawyer, Richard Posner, at first said he couldn’t hear and stood up and asked what the point was of what Hillier was doing. The detective then turned and walked to the right end of the jury box and held up the gun, slowly moving down the front of the jury box so all the jurors could see the firearm. Hillier told the courtroom that one juror asked if he could touch the gun. Hillier said he told the juror he couldn’t.
A minute later, Hillier unsealed a second gun box and explained it was the firearm seized from Chambers at the time of his arrest. Hillier went through the same exercise again, this time, only showing the gun to the jury.
According to the facts, as Dante Andreatta was walking with his mother on the west sidewalk of Jane Street, south of Stong Court on the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2020, Andreatta was hit by a stray bullet that struck him in the neck.
The jury has heard that just minutes before Andreatta was hit, three masked men pulled into the parking lot at 25 Stong Court across the street in a stolen Honda Accord. After a few minutes, two men got out and began shooting at five teenagers sitting in a car in the parking lot.
Thirty-six rounds were discharged from the two guns, and approximately 19 hit the car. Three of the teenagers were struck but managed to escape with non-life-threatening injuries.
The facts state that one teenage boy was hit in the right forearm, fracturing his right ulna. Another teenage boy was hit four times: two times in the left shoulder, once in the left thigh and once in the right leg. A third teenage boy was shot in the knee. Two teenage girls who were also in the car were not hit by gunfire.
Andreatta, who was across four lanes of traffic when he was struck by the bullet, was shot in the neck. The boy was rushed to hospital and died four days later. The cause of death, a single perforating gunshot wound to the neck.
It is an agreed fact that the bullet that struck Andreatta was fired by one of two individuals who were shooting handguns in the parking lot of 25 Stong Court. One of those shooters was Rashawn Chambers. The shooters were driven to and from 25 Stong by Mr. Hobbs in a stolen Honda Accord. One of the issues the jury must decide is whether Smart is the second shooter.
The stolen Honda Accord was found the following day on a dead-end street near Langstaff Rd and Jane St, roughly four km away. It was stolen on Oct. 13, 2020.
On Friday, jurors also saw video surveillance from outside the Canadian Tire at Bay and Dundas streets on Nov. 9, 2020, two days after the shooting. The two men can be seen walking into the store. When they emerge, plainclothes officers from the Toronto Police Gun and Gang Task Force can be seen taking the two men down to the ground.
Officers can be seen surrounding Chambers before a cellphone and a firearm are removed from his person. Another officer who is helping with the takedown of Smart across the sidewalk can be seen retrieving a handgun from Smart.
According to the facts, the Glock 19 handgun that Smart was carrying at the time of his arrest had 14 rounds in the magazine, and a laser-sight and automatic fire selector switch which allowed the gun to shoot as a fully automatic firearm. Chambers was also in possession of a Glock 19 handgun.
There were 28 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. The firearm also had an automatic fire selector switch, which allowed the gun to shoot as a fully automatic firearm.
The firearms located on Chambers and Smart were compared to the 36 cartridge casings found in the parking lot of 25 Stong Court. Eighteen came from the Glock that Chambers had in his possession on Nov. 9, 2020, while 18 of the casings came from the firearm Smart had in his possession at the time of his arrest on Nov. 9, 2020. Both firearms and magazines were prohibited.
Chambers, Smart and Hobbs have all pleaded not guilty to First Degree Murder and five counts of attempted murder.
Andreatta’s family attended court briefly on Friday, his grandmother clutching a picture of her deceased grandson in her hands.
The trial continues.