Житель Торонто признал вину за случайную стрельбу в чайной: брат убит в 2019 году

In 2019, Jalen Belle-McCormack’s older brother was shot dead in Toronto. Five years later, Belle-McCormack brought a handgun to a Waterloo teahouse, court was told. During a fight, the gun was accidentally fired. The bullet almost struck bystanders. It was pure luck that no one was killed, a prosecutor told Kitchener court this week when Belle-McCormack, 22, pleaded guilty to two charges. On a Saturday night during the Victoria Day long weekend in 2024, he got into an argument with a 16-year-old boy outside Chatime on King Street North, near University Avenue West. Belle-McCormack had a handgun tucked in the waistband of his pants, said Crown prosecutor Isabelle Currie. When he and the boy entered the teahouse, it was 11 p.m. The place was busy. The boy, a stranger to Belle-McCormack, attacked him from behind and was on top of him on the floor when Belle-McCormack pulled out the 9-mm handgun and held it near the teen’s stomach, court was told. “A struggle ensued for the gun,” Currie said. “During the physical struggle, the gun went off, grazing a bystander’s pant leg and narrowly missing two other bystanders nearby.” “The danger of this situation cannot be overstated,” she said. “Sheer matter of luck that nobody in the Chatime restaurant was hit by a bullet and was subsequently injured or killed.” The firing of the gun was “purely accidental,” said defence lawyer Susannah Chung-Alvares. After it was fired, the teen threw the gun behind a counter in the teahouse so Belle-McCormack could not get it. They both fled. “A few seconds later, Mr. Belle-McCormack returned and asked employees where the gun was, but they refused to tell him,” Currie said. “He then left, discarding his torn T-shirt on the sidewalk. DNA from the T-shirt was later used to identify Mr. Belle-McCormack, in addition to the surveillance which captured the event.” The gun was a Taurus semi-automatic pistol, a prohibited weapon because its barrel is shorter than 105 millimetres (4.1 inches). The serial number was obliterated. The magazine held 11 rounds of 9-mm ammunition. Belle-McCormack, who lives in Toronto, was on the run for 17 months before police arrested him in Winnipeg and brought him back to Waterloo Region. Brother’s murder left him fearful His brother, Jerome, 22, was fatally shot seven years ago in broad daylight in a laneway steps away from his home in a housing complex near the corner of Bloor and Dundas streets in Toronto. The killer was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The murder, along with other shootings in his Toronto neighbourhood, left Belle-McCormack scarred and fearful and “informed his decision to carry a firearm,” said Chung-Alvares. Belle-McCormack is, “in some sense, the product of systemic failures,” she said. “Born in Canada, he grew up in a high-risk (Toronto) neighbourhood … known for poverty, violence, drug subculture and a heavy police presence. “There was no shortage of negative influences surrounding Mr. Belle-McCormack in his neighbourhood.” Belle-McCormack, a Black man, is “a member of a vulnerable population subject to over-policing and over-incarceration,” Chung-Alvares said. “This was apparent to him from the time he was a youth. While gunshots were a routine occurrence, so was continuous police presence. He would observe police regularly detaining and questioning young Black men in the neighbourhood.” Belle-McCormack pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded gun without having a licence and breaking a no-weapons court order put in place in 2024 for assault. On the latest charges, he spent 263 days behind bars at Maplehurst jail in Milton, counted as 395 days with the standard 1.5-to-1 credit for presentence custody. The Crown is seeking 3.5 years, minus presentence custody. Two years is more appropriate, Chung-Alvares said. But when presentence custody and extra credit for what she called “inhumane” conditions at Maplehurst is deducted, the sentence should be time served, she said. Justice Nicole Redgate is expected to sentence Belle-McCormack next week. — with files from the Toronto Star Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.