A É«É«À² judge didn’t mince words Tuesday when sentencing two killers to three life terms each, citing the profound harm they inflicted not only on the victims and loved ones but on the entire Regent Park community.
The ambush-style attack happened just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2021, in the densely populated downtown neighbourhood on a beautiful late summer evening. There was a park across the street; lots of people were out and about that evening.
The victims were completely innocent, Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts told the court, guilty of nothing more than sitting at the edge of a parking lot, chatting with old friends, when four masked gunmen ran up in tandem, unleashing 59 shots as they chased the fleeing victims.
Thane Murray, 27, a beloved community worker in Regent Park, was shot 14 times and died at the scene. His friend was shot nine times and was in a coma for three weeks. Another friend was shot in the foot.
The Crown position was that the four shooters were part of a rap collective associated with Alexandra Park, on the west side of downtown, called MG4L (Menace Gang For Life) that does not like Regent Park, which is located on the east side.
“This case seems to set a new high-water mark in terms of harm,” Roberts said, reading her sentencing reasons in a downtown É«É«À² courtroom.
“The harm involved in this shooting is of a different order of magnitude, extending beyond the immediate victims and their family to the very fabric of the community,” said Roberts. “Indeed, as best as it is possible to understand why this shooting happened, it appears to have been an attack on an entire community.”
The judge noted there were 17 victim impact statements filed that “attempted to put into words the staggering pain of losing Mr. Murray, particularly in such a shocking, senseless way.”
On April 26, after deliberating for a little more than a day, a jury found Noah Anderson, 23, and Junior Jahmal Harvey, 23, guilty of first-degree murder and the attempted murder of two of his friends. The judge was mandated under the Criminal Code to impose on each man a sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years for the first-degree murder conviction.Â
In the area where she did have discretion, the judge said she was siding with the Crown that an appropriate sentence for the two attempted murders was life, to be served concurrently, rejecting the defence suggestion of a sentence between 12 to 15 years.
While the Crown’s case was circumstantial, the judge said it consisted of a “compelling combination of evidence of animus, means and opportunity and after the fact conduct.” It also included extensive surveillance video of the shooting, as well as the four suspects leaving the scene and going back to the Chelsea Hotel.
Anderson and Harvey denied they were two of the four shooters. They did not testify at trial. There was no evidence they knew the victims, nor was there any evidence they would have a motive to hurt, let alone kill, any of the victims. The surviving victims testified that neither they, nor Murray, had any enemies. Murray was a beloved employee at the local community centre, the judge said.
Nevertheless, the judge found that Anderson played a “leadership role” in the shooting: renting the car the shooters used and renting the hotel room used as a staging ground. His cell records strongly suggest he scouted the area in advance — his cell pinging off a tower in Regent Park on the afternoon of the shooting. He also drove to and from the area.
“I watched so much video of Mr. Anderson walking in and out of the lobby at the Chelsea Hotel following the shooting that by the end of the trial I could recognize him in the video of the shooting,” she said.
She also referred to the role of the rap song, “Peppered,” that was a key piece of Crown evidence at trial. The judge said she is satisfied Anderson and Harvey, together with a third man, wrote it after the shooting, “and it demonstrates deep animus toward the neighbourhood of Regent Park.”
On Tuesday, the judge read out some of the lyrics from “Peppered” in her decision, prompting some of Murray’s relatives to bolt from the courtroom:
“Your block is getting Peppered/MG4L man,” where they “catch one,” a “head shot, he had a seizure” leaving him “DOA,” (Thane Murray had no vital signs when first responders arrived, and was face down with his eyes open) putting him on a “T-shirt,” “sending him straight to Jesus,” and making them “RP killas.”
The judge noted the lyrics referred to the nicknames of Harvey and another man as being involved, long before any arrests were made.
A third accused facing first-degree murder and attempt murder is set to have a preliminary hearing this fall, while another suspect, Rajahden Angus-Campbell, remains at large.
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