Shooting suspect got parole in April
Rebaz Resh, now facing eight gun-related charges, was considered a low risk to reoffend
He was a 30-year-old first-time federal offender convicted of manslaughter in the 2016 murder of a downtown Hamilton nightclub doorman.
In April, nearly halfway through a nine-year prison sentence, he was granted full parole.
The Parole Board of Canada placed him among a group of offenders in which four out of five would not be expected to commit an indictable offence within three years of release.
But seven months on, Rebaz Resh now faces a litany of charges in connection to a targeted daytime shooting in Dundas that left a young man seriously injured two weeks ago.
Hamilton police allege Resh and Youcef Guendouz, 32, were behind multiple shootings — some in vehicles, some on foot — along a stretch of York Road, between Old Guelph Road and Highway 6, around 9:35 a.m. on Nov. 25.
The two Hamilton men were arrested while police say they were trying to run away from the scene.
Police have yet to disclose a motive behind the targeted shooting, which seriously injured a 22-yearold man who has since been released from hospital. They said the accused and the victim were known to each other.
Resh, now 31, was charged with eight gun-related offences, including attempt to cause death with a firearm, aggravated assault causing a wound and assault with a weapon, among others.
The arrest comes four years after Resh pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the May 2016 shooting of Vincenzo Lofaro, a 45-year-old son of Italian immigrants who was gunned down outside Club 77 on King William Street following a doorman shift.
Court heard at the time Resh — along with four others — carried out the attack as retaliation because they had earlier been booted from the bar.
Evidence presented at the trial found Resh was not the shooter, but he did cut up the gun and dumped it in the Grand River a day after the attack.
He was sentenced to nine years and two months behind bars, on top of time already served.
Parole documents obtained by The Spectator show Resh was involved in two institutional incidents while incarcerated — one of which resulted in a criminal conviction after he was found in possession of 15.2 grams of tobacco, a cellphone and a charger.
His application for full parole in November 2020 was denied. Instead, the board granted him day parole for up to six months at a community residential facility, where he was to abstain from consuming drugs or alcohol and avoid persons linked to crime or Lofaro’s family.
Less than a year later, in April 2021, he was given full parole after showing a commitment to “leading a balanced and pro social lifestyle,” the board wrote in its decision on the case.
Resh moved back in with his parents, documents show, and secured a daily job at his cousin’s cabinet store and in construction through a friend’s roofing company. His longterm plan was to pursue a career in the culinary arts.
The board classified Resh as a low risk to reoffend and said his release would “contribute to the protection of society.”
He was directed to not associate with any person believed to be involved in crime.
Hamilton police could not confirm Wednesday whether Guendouz, the second man charged in the Dundas shooting, had any prior convictions.
Evidence presented at the trial found Resh was not the shooter, but he did cut up the gun and dumped it in the Grand River a day after the attack