12-05-2025
Teen in $1,000 tracksuit who shot at group of strangers near Lime Ridge Mall convicted
In a matter of nine minutes, a 15-year-old Hamilton boy drew a loaded gun three times, including
firing at a group of strangers
who were trying to record his behaviour near Lime Ridge Mall last year.
In court Friday, Ontario Court Justice Stephen Darroch rejected the teen's testimony that he acted in self-defence, instead finding him guilty of all charges, including discharging a gun with intent to harm and assault with a weapon.
The teen's story during the recent trial was 'simply too far-fetched, too nonsensical, too internally inconsistent and too inconsistent with video,' Darroch said.
Court heard that on Sept. 1, 2024, the then 15-year-old, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was shopping at Lime Ridge Mall with his brother where they both bought $1,000 tracksuits. The teen, who bought his with cash that he claimed to have earned doing chores around the house, changed into the tracksuit and left the mall.
Throughout, he carried a loaded handgun concealed in a small satchel strung over his shoulder.
Darroch noted that he didn't believe the teen's testimony that he bought the gun for $300 in cash a week and a half before, when someone he didn't know randomly offered to sell it to him while playing basketball at a park. The team claimed that he happened to have the $300 in cash on him, also earned by doing chores.
The teen's story about why he had so much cash and how he came to buy the gun 'stretches credulity beyond the breaking point,' the judge said.
The teen said he had been robbed before and didn't feel safe in the neighbourhood.
That day, almost immediately after exiting the mall, the brothers encountered a group in the parking lot. The teen said someone in the group asked him what was in his bag and showed him what he thought was a gun, so the teen flashed his gun, and the group left him alone.
Video shows the brief encounter, including the other group running away, but was not close enough to capture any weapons, Darroch said.
Then the brothers walked across the street, where they encountered a different group of people in the Dollarama parking lot, court heard. There was a verbal exchange, and the 15-year-old again pulled out his gun. This time he racked it, ejecting a full cartridge onto the sidewalk.
The brothers walked around the back of the building, near the loading area and through a chain-link fence, into a field behind the store. The other group followed, slowly and at a distance with phones out. Darroch said the victim was about two car lengths away, separated by the fence, with five other youths in the group, another couple car-lengths away, when the 15-year-old fired three shots. No one was hurt.
The teen testified that as he and his brother walked past the second group, one of the young men asked what they were looking at and then said to give him 'that hoodie.' He told the court he was chased, but video shows the group moving at a 'leisurely pace.'
The judge also noted that the teen admitted that as he walked away, he turned back and told the group to 'go f—k themselves' — a provocative statement that doesn't support self-defence. He also wore a ski mask.
Ultimately, Darroch found the teen's story failed on all three elements of the legal self-defence argument: catalyst, motive and reasonable response.
Moreover, he found the teen fired the gun intentionally and that he was not aiming at the ground, as the teen claimed in court.
Given the number of convictions, the Crown stayed one firearm possession charge. In total, the teen will be sentenced for five offences, including possession of a loaded prohibited firearm without authorization, possession of a loaded prohibited firearm while prohibited, breach of probation, discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life and assault with a weapon.
The case returns for a sentencing hearing June 24.
