---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Biniam Tekle <biniamt_at_dehai.org>
Date: Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 8:51 AM
Subject: (Torinto Sun) Guilty plea in deadly Danzig shooting spree
To: dehai-news <dehai-news_at_dehai.org>
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/11/danzig-shooting-accused-in-court
TORONTO - A broken-hearted little brother draws a picture of his pain. One
mother, angry and bitter, dares him to face the lives he's shattered. While
a grandfather reaches out a hand and dares him to be better man.
In a downtown courtroom, an extraordinary day of anger and forgiveness met
by shame and remorse. And maybe, just maybe, the beginning of healing for
those scarred by the worst mass shooting Toronto has ever seen.
The dramatic day began with alleged Galloway Boys member Nahom "Gifted"
Tsegazab rising in the prisoner's dock, a slip of a 20-year-old in a preppy
sweater and jeans, to inform the court that he would be pleading guilty to
two counts of manslaughter and six of aggravated assault in the chaotic
gunfight that erupted during the Danzig St. block party two summers ago.
"Guilty," the Eritrean-immigrant quietly repeated eight separate times to
the long list of charges. Guilty for his reckless part in the shooting
death of 14-year-old Shyanne Charles. Guilty for his reckless role in the
death of 23-year-old Joshua Yasay. And guilty again and again for being a
party to the maiming of so many others, including a two-year-old toddler.
Tsegazab was the co-organizer of the now infamous "Henny-Blocko" party at
the D-Block public housing complex on Danzig that July 16, 2012 -- a party
that began innocently in the afternoon with a children's barbeque and then
moved to adult music and free shots of Hennessy by night.
It then took a deadly turn.
At about 9 p.m., Tsegazab was warned that someone was threatening to come
"shoot up the party," Crown attorney Tom Pittman said, reading from an
agreed statement of facts.
That someone, police believe, was a member of rival gang, the Malvern Crew.
Tsegazab admitted arming himself with a .40-calibre semi-automatic gun that
night. When someone did indeed shoot him at 10:40 p.m., striking him in the
right bicep and abdomen, he fell to the ground. And then he reached for his
gun. "Nahom Tsegazab recklessly fired 11 rounds into the direction of the
shooter as he fled through the large crowd," court heard.
Meanwhile, an unknown shooter -- who remains at large -- fired 14 rounds from
an Uzi into the crowd of more than 200 partygoers. At that moment, Shyanne
Charles, a girl who loved Rhianna and hoped to be a singer, walked into the
spray of bullets. She collapsed and died on the doorstep of 203 Danzig as
her mother begged her to live.
Joshua Yasay, a community mentor who aspired to be a police officer, was
hit by a bullet in the crossfire that pierced his heart and lungs.
During the chaotic gunplay, 22 innocent bystanders were also injured.
Shaquan 'Bam Bam' Mesquito, 18, an alleged member of the rival Malvern
Crew, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as
attempted murder in the shooting of Tsegazab.
Originally charged with second-degree murder, Tsegazab opted early to plead
guilty to the lesser charges, admitting that by participating in this
gunfight, he was a "party" to the deaths and injuries that ensued. The
defence and Crown proposed a 14-year sentence -- but before Justice John
McMahon would decide his fate, he would first have to hear the anguish from
members of the Yasay and Charles families, a dirge that left no one unmoved.
Through her tears, Yasay's mother described a parent's dream child --
loving, hard-working, a volunteer for kids with disabilities and,
ironically, a university grad in criminology who hoped to make that his
life's work. "Joshua always insisted on being the cop, never the bad guy,"
Remelinda Yasay proudly told the court.
She hasn't changed anything in his bedroom since that fateful night, and
still she goes in there, just to press his pillow to her face and drink in
what lingers from the scent of her baby boy. "This is my son's last chance
to do good," she said. "A strict sentence for the defendant has the
potential to affect the thinking and actions of others."
The senseless shooting of her younger brother has changed sister Janelle
Yasay forever. "Now I feel that the world we live in is a terrible place
filled with evil people -- people like the man sitting before me," she said,
her eyes searching for those of Tsegazab.
She was his big sister, and yet she couldn't protect him. "I wish I could
be the one who could save him that night; instead he was left alone to die
on Danzig St. with no one he knew," she wept. "His last words were: 'Please
save me.'"
At least Shyanne did not die alone -- but the teen's last moments remain a
horrific memory that her mother will carry with her to the end of her days.
"Shyanne Charles was my daughter and because of you, she's gone," Afifa
Charles said angrily, glaring at the man she holds responsible. "Every day
that I wake up, my heart shatters in pieces.
Guilty plea in deadly Danzig shooting spree
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/11/danzig-shooting-accused-in-court
BY MICHELE MANDEL ,TORONTO SUN
FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014 09:56 AM EDT | UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL
11, 2014 10:30 PM EDT
"Every night that I go to sleep, I see my daughter dead, her eyes open, and
I can't do nothing to save her. Nothing."
Her fury poured from every inch of her small frame. "She was well loved by
everyone in Danzig, by everyone in Galloway and I know that you knew her,"
she said. "I had to bury my daughter. She was only 14! I shouldn't have to
bury my daughter."
Shyanne's mother then looked him up and down and slowly shook her head. His
confession won't give her daughter back the future she will never have.
"Fourteen. Remember that -- 14. I'm done," she said abruptly, and left the
witness box.
Shyanne's wonderful grandfather was the last to speak for the families.
Tyler Charles assured Tsegazab that he was not seeking revenge, that he
could even forgive him. But what he wanted in return was a commitment that
he would now turn his life around and warn others against following his
evil ways.
"You were born good, you grew to hate," Charles told him. "You now have a
gift. Use it right ... go in there and come out better. Don't come out
worse."
They seemed to be words that seared into the young man's very soul.
Tsegazab stood to face the families. "If you could please forgive me. I
never meant for this to happen but I did do it and I will live with the
consequences," he said softly.
"I will better myself. I will change my life," Tsegazab vowed, as the
courtroom filled with the sobs of the people he has hurt. "From the bottom
of my heart, please forgive me."
The judge had harsh words for the plague of gun violence in our city and
the many partygoers who failed to come forward after a shooting that left
their block looking "like a war zone."
"The impact on families is absolutely devastating," McMahon said. "These
two families' lives have been destroyed. They will live with the nightmare
of what happened to their loved ones for the rest of their lives."
But he accepted the joint submission of 14 years as "fair and just"
sentence because of Tsegazab's very early guilty plea, young age and
expression of remorse. With credit for pre-trial custody, he will serve an
additional 11 years and five months.
"We already lose Shyanne, we already lose Josh. No matter how much time he
got, it wouldn't bring them back," Shyanne's grandfather said outside the
courthouse. "If he'll be a good person and do the right thing and make the
public proud, it'll be all right."
So Tsegazab will get his second chance one day. Let us hope, for the sake
of an aspiring cop and girl who dreamed of being a singer, that he will not
squander it.
Received on Mon Apr 14 2014 - 10:39:35 EDT