One of five involved in violent home invasion, shooting pleads guilty

Skylon Johnson, 19, admits to being in group that carried out assaults

The first victim, a 52-year-old woman asleep on her couch, woke to being punched in the face.

Then the group of masked men, wielding what appeared to be handguns, moved on to two teenagers — friends of the woman’s son — who were sleeping in different main level rooms in the Holly Avenue home, a Hamilton courtroom heard Friday.

One wasn’t injured, but the other suffered a broken orbital bone from being hit with a gun, before the group moved upstairs, Crown attorney Jill McKenzie said, recounting the violent north Hamilton home invasion and shooting May 9, 2017.

Upstairs another teen awoke to being assaulted, and a 46-year-old man was shot once in the stomach, was thrown down the stairs, then kicked and punched, she said. Throughout, the group repeatedly demanded to know the location of a safe.

The 52-year-old’s injuries were life-threatening, but he survived after several surgeries.

On Friday, Skylon Johnson, 19, pleaded guilty to 10 charges in relation to the incident, including aggravated assault, robbery, discharging a firearm, assaults, possession of a loaded handgun and failing to comply with probation.

He denied using or even carrying the 9mm Glock handgun used to shoot the homeowner, which police later found in a yard about 400 metres away.

However, he admits to being part of the group and therefore pleaded guilty, said defence attorney Michael Puskas.

One other young man allegedly involved, who was 15 at the time of the crimes, was caught at the scene and charged. The other three escaped by hopping over fences and running through backyards, leaving behind weapons and discarded clothing, including the balaclava-style masks they wore.

They have never been identified.

The incident began that Tuesday around 9:15 a.m., when a group of five young men parked a stolen 2005 Pontiac Pursuit in front of the home, leaving the engine running, McKenzie said, reading from an agreed statement of facts.

They knocked on the front door, and when no one answered they went into the backyard where a neighbour saw them putting on masks and breaking in through the back door.

That witness called 911, allowing officers to respond in time to hear the gunshot and spot the young men trying to flee in the backyard.

They threw what appeared to be two handguns and dropped a safe they were carrying, McKenzie said.

Those guns turned out to be a BB gun and air-soft pistol, she said. But the loaded 9mm used in the shooting was later found, and a loaded Beretta handgun was found in the stolen car.

Johnson, who had family in court supporting him, returns to court Sept. 13 for sentencing submissions.