Toronto Eaton Centre shooter guilty of two counts of manslaughter

TORONTO — A man accused in a fatal shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Centre six years ago has been found guilty of two counts of manslaughter.

A jury also found Christopher Husbands guilty of five counts of aggravated assault, one count each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and reckless discharge of a firearm in the June 2, 2012 mall shooting.

Husbands, who had stood trial on the more serious charges of second-degree murder, admitted he was the shooter but his lawyers argued he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine said his client was in a dissociative state as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder and did not have control over his actions.

He told the court Husbands’ PTSD was triggered by a chance encounter with some of the men who had beaten and stabbed him more than 20 times in an ambush attack months earlier.

The Crown, however, argued Husbands sought revenge for the stabbing and carried out the shooting as a form of “street justice.”

Prosecutors acknowledged Husbands had PTSD but said he was in control throughout the attack, noting the doctors were split on whether he experienced dissociation.

A group of five men walked by him and Husbands pulled a gun from his satchel and fired 14 bullets in the crowded dining area, setting off a stampede as shoppers ran for their lives.

Two men were killed in the shooting — prosecutors said Ahmed Hassan, 24, died on scene while Nixon Nirmalendran, 22, died in hospital nine days later.