Life sentence for Danzig shooter
Teen who sparked fatal crossfire in July 2012 punished as adult
Three men are now serving prison sentences for their part in the July 2012 Danzig mass shooting that injured 23 people and ended the lives of Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23.
Folorunso Owusu, who was 17 years old when he fired the shots that sparked the deadly crossfire, was sentenced as an adult Wednesday to life in prison with no parole eligibility for seven years.
But the man who returned fire with an Uzi submachine gun into the terrified crowd of more than 200 at the summer night party on Danzig St. remains unidentified. It was the shots from his gun that killed Charles and Yasay, along with the shots fired by Owusu’s intended target, 19-year-old Nahom Tsegazab.
“I’m still hurt that my daughter’s killer is still out there,” Shyanne’s mother, Afifa Charles, said. “My daughter was only 14. She didn’t deserve to die like that. And I want him to come forward. You know who you are. You know what you did. And people know who did it. And they need to put themselves in my shoes. They need to realize that a 14-year-old girl got killed for no reason. No reason.”
Both the Charles and Yasay families approved of the adult sentence for Owusu.
“Justice was served today, not just for Joshua and Shyanne but all the other victims who were injured that day . . . and the families that have also suffered,” said Jennilyn Yasay, Joshua’s older sister.
Owusu, now 21, was convicted by a jury in March of two counts of second-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of attempted murder and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm.
He shook his head and turned to look at his mother as Justice Ian Nordheimer read his decision.
“It’s not fair,” his mother said. After Nordheimer left the court, she gestured to the judge’s dais. “You are not the hammer, you are not God.”
Although it was not the shots from his gun that killed Yasay and Charles, Owusu is responsible for their murders because he instigated the gunfire that led to their deaths, Nordheimer said in his decision on whether Owusu would be sentenced as a youth or an adult.
He would have known there would be retaliatory gunfire, putting the lives of everyone attending the party — including many children — in jeopardy.
The result was the worst mass shooting in the city’s history, Nordheimer said, eclipsing a shooting at the Eaton Centre that had happened just six weeks prior.
“Ordinary persons do not understand how anyone, much less teenagers, can come not only to possess such weapons, but to use them in such a brutal and indifferent way,” he said in his decision.
“We must never allow cases such as these to be treated as just another headline in this city,” he said, quoting one of the family’s victim-impact statements. Defence lawyer Graham Zoppi urged the court to give Owusu a youth sentence, describing him as the “poster child” for rehabilitation.
The maximum youth sentence for second-degree murder would be four years in custody and up to three years under supervision in the community.
“That submission takes the progress the respondent has made too far,” Nordheimer said in his decision.
He commended the significant progress Owusu has made, but found it was closely linked to the support and structured environment of the youth justice facility. Nordheimer agreed with the Crown submission that an adult sen- tence allows continued supervision and structure for Owusu should he obtain parole when he is eligible in three years.
Areport submitted to the court currently places him at a “medium-risk” to reoffend, he said.
He also noted Owusu has not taken responsibility for firing the first shots at the party, although he has expressed remorse for deaths and injuries caused by the shooting.
“(An adult sentence) is the only sentence that will hold the respondent accountable for his role in these murders and his conduct that caused them,” he said, adding that it is also the only sentence the public will see fit in light of the terrible damage done, as well as allowing for ongoing supervision of Owusu.
A further hearing is needed to determine where Owusu should serve his time.
He still faces several counts of criminal negligence that have yet to be resolved.
Nahom Tsegazab pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and six counts of aggravated assault in 2014. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Shaquan Mesquito, initially thought by police to be one of the shooters until surveillance video cleared him, pleaded guilty to counselling to commit murder and threatening bodily harm for urging others to go on a killing spree after he was kicked out of the party for being from the area of a rival gang.
He was sentenced to nine years in prison.