Richard Jonathan Edwin admitted in a Toronto courtroom Tuesday that he had fatally shot two strangers in random, unprovoked attacks two days apart from each other in April 2022, but pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder due to a mental disorder.
At the opening day of the judge-alone trial, Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly said the issue she must decide is whether Edwin is not criminally responsible. If Kelly decides he is criminally responsible for one or both attacks, she must then decide whether the attacks were first or second-degree murder.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court by assistant Crown attorney Sandra Duffey, Edwin was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2010 when he was 28.
Kelly told Edwin before entering his plea that two forensic psychiatrists are expected to testify. Kelly said one doctor, who assessed Edwin for the defence, is expected to tell the court that her findings suggest Edwin was not criminally responsible at the time of the shootings.
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Meanwhile, the forensic psychiatrist for the Crown is expected to testify that her assessment does not support the finding of not criminally responsible, said Kelly.
Defence lawyers Tyler Smith and Kaitlyn Mathews told Kelly it is not anticipated that Edwin will testify.
Wearing an olive, navy blue and white windbreaker-style jacket, the accused sat quietly in the prisoner’s box listening to the facts.
By way of background, Duffey told court on April 7, 2022, that Edwin — who was 40 at the time of the killing — leased a small bachelor apartment, number 103 at 83 Spadina Rd. He legally owned four firearms and possessed a rifle.
That day, Duffey told court Edwin was captured by numerous surveillance cameras travelling to Sherbourne subway station, where he shot 21-year-old Kartik Vasudev before returning to his apartment.
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A video chronology shown in court captured Edwin walking north and south between 81 and 83 Spadina Rd. at 4:35 p.m. At the time, he was wearing a grey toque, a navy blue puffer jacket, a grey dress shirt, ripped faded blue jeans, two-toned black and white/cream shoes and was carrying a grey backpack with black piping. He was also carrying a loaded black handgun, which he had concealed.
Edwin then continued south along Spadina towards the Bloor/Spadina subway entrance before entering the station. At 4:49 p.m., Edwin boarded an eastbound train and rode the subway to Sherbourne Station. He exited at approximately 4:55 p.m. using the Glen Road exit, with stairs leading up to Bloor Street. Edwin is seen pacing in the area near the stairs.
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At 4:58 p.m., Edwin can be seen walking towards the Glen entrance in Vasudev’s direction. As Vasudev reaches the base of the stairs to Bloor Street, Edwin re-emerges from the rear of the Bloor staircase and rushes past him. Edwin then turns around to face Vasudev’s back, withdraws a loaded firearm and fires several times in the direction of the 21-year-old man.
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As Vasudev falls to the ground, Edwin runs south on Glen toward Howard Street.
“Mr. Edwin turns around, stops and faces Mr. Vasudev, who is lying injured at the base of the Bloor Street staircase. Mr. Edwin raises his arms and fires more shots in Mr. Vasudev’s direction,” Duffey said.
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Numerous civilian eyewitnesses saw and/or heard Edwin firing his gun multiple times towards Vasudev. None of the civilians who witnessed the killing could point to any events precipitating the shooting.
After the shooting, Edwin turned south on Glen, then west on Howard and then southbound on Sherbourne. He removed his toque and puffer jacket before boarding a westbound bus on Wellesley Street towards Wellesley Station.
Jitesh and Pooja Vasudev, parents of Kartik, walk out out a downtown Toronto courtroom on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Catherine McDonald/Global News
He then boarded a subway at Wellesley Station and travelled to Spadina Station, exiting the station at 5:31 p.m. before returning to his apartment.
A post-mortem examination found that Vasudev, an international student from India who was studying at Seneca College, suffered gunshot wounds to the back, right lung, neck, right buttock, chest, liver and lower leg.
Two days later, on April 9, Edwin was captured by numerous surveillance cameras travelling to the location where he shot 35-year-old Elijah Mahepath and then left the location and returned to his residence.
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A compilation of video surveillance captured Edwin entering the Spadina TTC station just after 6 p.m. Edwin was wearing a grey toque, blue mask, grey patterned shirt, jeans and black loafers with beige laces. He had a loaded black handgun concealed in his waistband.
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Edwin boarded the subway and travelled to Queen Station before exiting the station at 6:25 p.m. and walking to Dundas Street and Sherbourne, where he arrived around 6:55 p.m. Around the same time, Mahepath disembarked from a TTC bus at the corner of Sherbourne and Dundas and walked west on Dundas slightly behind Edwin.
At 6:58 p.m., Mahepath passed Edwin, who continued to walk west along Dundas. There was no interaction between the two men. Edwin turned his body to look behind him. Mahepath continued to walk in front of Edwin.
An ambulance can be seen on surveillance rushing by both men. There is no audio on the surveillance video. Just as the ambulance drove by, Edwin ran and reached into the left side of his pants under his grey patterned dress shirt. He withdrew a gun from his left waistband and raised it with both hands.
“Edwin fired the gun towards the back of the unsuspecting Mr. Mahepath,” said Duffey. “Mr. Edwin shot Mr. Mahepath multiple times. Mr. Mathepath fell to the ground. Mr. Edwin continued to shoot Mr. Mahepath after he had fallen to the ground.”
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After the shooting, people are captured on video surveillance looking at Mahepath, who is crouched on the sidewalk, but not stopping to help. Minutes later, a taxi pulls over on Dundas Street and stops close to wear Mahepath was on the ground. It’s not clear if he called 911.
Edwin can be seen jogging westbound away from the scene on Dundas, eventually removing his grey toque. At one point, he can be seen taking off the shirt he was wearing and stuffing it into a grey grocery bag that he was carrying. He continued walking on Jarvis Street towards Shuter Street, having changed into a brown or green-coloured pullover shirt.
Edwin then entered Queen subway station and boarded a subway train towards Spadina station. At 7:43 p.m., Edwin exited Spadina Station at Bloor and returned home.
An autopsy found that Mahepath died from gunshot wounds to his right back and left buttock.
That same evening at 8:07 p.m., a police officer who was conducting surveillance on Edwin and his residence at 83 Spadina Rd., about 24 minutes after Edwin had arrived home following the shooting of Mahepath, saw Edwin dispose of a grey knotted grocery bag in the garbage bins, which were located just north of his residence.
Shortly thereafter, another officer retrieved two knotted grocery bags from the garbage bins, as well as the navy blue puffer jacket and grey backpack with black piping. The jacket and backpack seized had been worn by Edwin at the time of the April 7 shooting of Vasudev.
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The grocery bags contained clothing Edwin had worn during the April 7 and 9 shootings, including a grey toque, grey dress shirt, ripped faded blue jeans and black loafers with beige laces.
On April 10 at 8:35 p.m., officers arrested Edwin in his residence. After obtaining a search warrant, officers found five firearms in the apartment.
A forensic scientist with the Centre for Forensic Sciences compared the markings from the fired projectiles recovered from the scenes of the April 7 and 9 incidents with test fires from one of the firearms seized in Edwin’s apartment.
She found that the projectiles found at the shootings were fired from the same firearm, a 9mm Luger calibre Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol. The firearm was registered to Richard Jonathan Edwin and was in his residence during the police search. The serial number on the firearm was obfuscated.
“There is no evidence of any precipitating events before the shooting of Mr. Mahepath. There was no interaction with the victim prior to the shooting,” said Duffey.
Jitesh and Pooja Vasudev, Kartik Vasudev’s parents, flew in from India for the trial, which is expected to continue on Wednesday.