Trial begins in double murder case
Talal Al-Shammari “miraculously” survived the shooting that left his younger brother and his friend dead on July 24, 2017, and when he recovered he told police it was Alam Gabriel Buoc who pulled the trigger.
The jury in Buoc's double murder trial was instructed by Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger to “keep an open mind” as Crown prosecutors described the killings of Abdulrahman Al-Shammari, 26, and Dirie Olol, 27, who were shot from close range from the back seat of a car idling in a residential neighbourhood near Elmhurst Park on that quiet Monday morning.
Buoc, 32, who is representing himself, pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder as his trial opened Thursday.
Assistant Crown attorney Stephen Albers told the jurors, who were required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID -19 before they were selected, to expect to hear evidence from police officers, forensic investigators, ballistics and blood-spatter experts, DNA experts and civilian witnesses in a trial scheduled to extend over 10 weeks.
The Crown's case is expected to centre on testimony from Talal Al-Shammari, the surviving eyewitness, who, Albers said, will recall for the court a night of revelry that took a sudden, shockingly violent turn.
The night began with Talal and Abdulrahman Al-Shammari going out for drinks with their friend, Dirie Olol, at a Kanata Centrum bar on July 23, 2017. Buoc joined the group shortly before closing time, and the four headed back to Buoc's apartment.
Buoc, according to the Crown's case, at one point emerged from his bedroom with a pair of handguns, which he passed around as the others took photos posing with the guns — photos the jury will later see as trial evidence, Albers said.
The mood suddenly shifted, prosecutors said, when Buoc began accusing his friends of stealing a single bullet from him, which his friends adamantly denied. Buoc followed them to Abdulrahman Al-Shammari's car as the group left his apartment, then unexpectedly got in and sat in the back seat.
They had driven a short distance when Buoc again began demanding one of them confess to stealing his bullet.
Al-Shammari pulled the car over near Elmhurst Park when Buoc, prosecutors allege, opened fire on all three of them from close range.
“Mr. Buoc, believing wrongly that somebody had stolen a bullet from him ... took the handgun and ammunition with him to Abdulrahman's car, got in the back seat next to Talal Al-Shammari, and Mr. Buoc took out his loaded gun,” Albers said.
“This is why I came,” Buoc said as he pulled the semi-automatic from his waistband, Albers told the jury. “He then opened fire mere inches away from the three men, leaving them no time to react.”
Abdulrahman Al-Shammari was shot once fatally through the neck and staggered out of the driver's seat before collapsing in the driveway of a home on Tavistock Road.
Olol was killed instantly, Albers said, when Buoc shot him in the back of the head before he turned the gun on Talal, seated next to him in the back.
Talal Al-Shammari was shot twice, with one bullet passing through his neck and another in his shoulder before he briefly passed out, then awoke to see Buoc struggling to get out of the car. The child locks had been engaged, and Talal climbed out through the driver's seat, pleading for his life as Buoc chased him down the street.
“Please don't do this. I love you,” Talal begged as he raised his hand, partially blocking Buoc's third shot.
One neighbour who heard the exchange will testify later at trial, Albers said.
The Crown called its first witness Thursday, a woman who lives at the corner of Tavistock and Henley Street and who heard loud “popping” sounds, then saw the white Mazda sedan speed by her house.
“Talal pleaded with Mr. Buoc not to shoot him,” Albers said. “Mr. Buoc looked at him, bleeding from the neck and said, `You just need time to die.'”
Al-Shammari escaped into the nearby woods and emerged soaked in blood, Albers said, as he flagged down a passerby who rushed him to Queensway Carleton Hospital.
The car was abandoned on Wayne Avenue, where another witness called police after spotting the vehicle sitting for hours with its engine running, then noticed a bullet hole.
Police found Olol's body slumped inside the car.
With two victims dead and another fighting for his life in hospital, prosecutors said, Buoc went to a Gatineau Walmart and had his picture taken in a photo booth, then headed for the passport office to ask for an expedited passport.
He went from there to a travel agency, where prosecutors said he asked for a plane ticket to Sudan leaving “as soon as possible.”
He withdrew $3,000 in cash from his bank, then paid for his ticket, set for departure at 10:40 p.m. on July 27, 2017.
Police arrested him about 90 minutes before the plane took off.
Buoc has not yet mounted a defence as his trial continues.