‘I shot and killed him,’ accused told undercover officer

ACalgary man, on trial at youth court for first-degree murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Adam Cavanagh in 2007, told undercover police officers during a sting more than three years later that he “shot the guy in the head through the basement window.”

Const. Moss also said the accused told him police would have nothing on him because “they did it so clean,” wore gloves and a mask and burned the gun afterwards, then mixed the ashes with water and poured them down the drain.

The accused, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, had begun to get nervous after cold case Det. Spencer Frizzell called him on his cellphone while he was driving around Burnaby, B.C., with the undercover officer on June 15, 2010. Frizzell wanted to talk about the shooting.

The accused told Moss that police had nothing on him and that none of the people with him that night would have spilled the beans to police. But he was very nervous about speaking to Frizzell.

The accused told Moss, whose full name cannot be published because of a court order, “I killed this guy,” but that police would not have any fingerprints, because he was careful not to leave any, that he burned all the clothes he wore that night and he gave the 9-mm handgun used to kill the victim to his father to melt down right afterward.

He said Salim Kaddoura, a friend, had a beef with Cavanagh and was with him at the window of the victim’s home in the northeast community of Temple on the morning of Feb. 3, 2007.

“What kind of an alibi do we have, man? Like, it was three years ago,” the accused told Moss, believing the officer with whom he had been associating and working for nearly six months was his friend.

“They don’t have the weapon, they don’t have the (expletive) clothes that I was wearing. They don’t have nothing . . . like they know he was shot . . . it was a nine-millimetre . . . it was a Chinese gun, I already took care of it.”

Court was told previously that police had held back evidence of what gun was used.

The accused said police already knew his name, but had no evidence.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, man, for real,” he told Moss. “I just don’t wanna sit in front of that detective and my life be over right there.

“I’ll (expletive) grab his gun and try to kill him so he kills me first. I’m not gonna sit in jail for (expletive) 25 years.”

The accused then suggested he try to call Kaddoura, but that he had been unable to reach him and did not know where he was located.

When asked by Moss what exactly he had done, he replied: “I shot and killed him . . . it was a basement window, right? And it was open and there’s a screen . . . just the screen made out of mesh.”

He said they were slick, “like ninja style, ”when they went to the cavanagh home that night. The accused said they parked two blocks away in an alley, then ran up to the home, and that there should be no footprints in the snow or tire tracks in the alley.

The accused said he had to get back to Calgary to see his father, get some money — $80,000 — and flee the country.

Earlier, Judge Steve Lipton ruled the trial will not travel to Venezuela to take evidence from Kaddoura. He said he would give detailed reasons later, but advised defence lawyer Andre Ouellette that he had other options under the Criminal Code to obtain evidence, including video or audio evidence.

The judge cited an argument by Crown prosecutor Grant Schorn that Kaddoura could testify here if necessary, as he has never been charged in connection with the shooting death of Cavanagh, and there are no warrants for his arrest.

Lipton said he will make himself available for Ouellette to argue how Kaddoura’s evidence could be taken by closed-circuit television or other means from Caracas when the defence case begins Feb. 27.

The Crown alleges, and witnesses have testified, that Kaddoura was present at the window of Cavanagh’s home when the victim was shot in the head through an open basement window while he was hosting a party with friends.

Kaddoura told the lawyer he will testify regarding the events before Canadian authorities, either in person or by closed-circuit television from Caracas, but only from Venezuelan soil, and will not return to Canada.

The trial continues today.