One of three men involved in a deadly gunfight that killed an innocent bystander outside the Leslieville safe injection site more than two years ago has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The surprise guilty plea comes just weeks before 22-year-old Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim was set to go to trial. Damien Hudson, one of two alleged shooters who is accused of second-degree murder, is still scheduled to go to trial before a jury next month.
According to an agreed statement of facts read in court by assistant Crown attorney Paul Zambonini Monday, Caroline Huebner-Makurat was on her way to meet her friend for lunch and was crossing Queen Street when a bullet fired during the shootout went into her right side, through her kidney, liver and aorta, killing her.
The 44-year-old, a wife and mother to two young children, fell to the ground, and despite efforts to save her, she succumbed to her injuries.
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The facts state that Ibrahim, who was 20 years old at the time, would regularly spend time outside the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, where a “safe injection site” was operating.
The site provided needles and supplies to individuals who were using drugs, primarily fentanyl. Workers at the site would monitor the drug users to make sure they did not overdose and to take steps to save them if they did.
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The existence of the safe injection site created a market for drug dealers who would primarily sell fentanyl to people who used the site. The site did not provide narcotics.
On July 5, 2023, Ibrahim had conversations by text message with a drug dealer who was subsequently identified by police and civilian witnesses as Damian Hudson. The facts state “this man will be subsequently identified as ‘the man in the white T-shirt.’”
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“Of particular significance are text messages from the man in the white t-shirt to Mr. Ibrahim to the effect that he believed that an associate of Mr. Ibrahim had robbed him. The man in the white t-shirt texted: ‘I don’t care about jail or cameras buddy robbed me’ and ‘I don’t need to plan ill (sic) up on site anywhere.’”
The facts state “these text messages, and other ones sent to a worker on site, Kahlila Mohamed (who shared them with Mr. Ibrahim) were to the effect that the man in the white t-shirt would respond with deadly force if he was robbed.”
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On July 7, 2023, Ibrahim, who was known by the drug users and workers at the centre as “Ben,” was hanging out on the west side of the centre in a courtyard just east of the Queen Street East Presbyterian Church. At approximately 12:30 p.m., a man dressed in black exited a TTC bus on the north side of the intersection of Queen and Carlaw. “For the purpose of the plea, he will be referred to as ‘the man in black,’” said Zambonini.
Zambonini told the court that the man in black could be seen on surveillance video looking around the corner of the building at Queen and Carlaw toward the courtyard where Ibrahim and the man in the white T-shirt were located.
Video surveillance shown in court captured the man in black quickly running across the street to the man in the white T-shirt. It’s then that the man in black and Ibrahim are seen attacking the man in the white T-shirt. At some point, the man in black produced a handgun and repeatedly struck the man in the white T-shirt in the head.
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Ibrahim, the man in black and the man in the white T-shirt struggled over a satchel that the man in the white T-shirt was carrying. Ibrahim was able to take the satchel away from the man in the white shirt and then ran away west, as did the man in the black. A further struggle ensued.
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As Ibrahim fled the scene, a shootout occurred between the man in black and the man in the white T-shirt. From the video surveillance, it does not appear that Ibrahim was armed during the encounter.
“By his plea, Mr. Ibrahim admits that by participating in the robbery of the man in the white T-shirt with the man in the black, he created an objectively dangerous situation which posed a risk of bodily harm. As a result of that dangerous situation, Karoline Huebner-Makurat was killed,” said Zambonini.
“Mr. Ibrahim does not acknowledge that the robbery was premeditated. The Crown will endeavour to prove that as an aggravating factor at a Gardiner hearing,” Zambonini told Madam Justice Maureen Forestell. A date for that hearing has been set for December.
Heubner-Makurat’s widow watched the proceedings on Zoom. Ibrahim sat in the prisoner’s box listening closely, his hair in short braids, wearing a black T-shirt and faded blue jeans. There was no family present in the courtroom for Ibrahim, who looked around as he was being led out of court in handcuffs after the plea.
Global News reached out to Huebner-Makurat’s widow after the hearing but he declined to comment.
Khalila Mohamed, the former harm reduction worker who received text messages from the man in black, which she shared with Ibrahim, was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day and 100 hours of community service in June. She pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter last December.
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The second suspected shooter, identified by police as Ahmed Ali, is still at large. He is wanted for manslaughter and robbery with a firearm. Investigators have previously said they believe Ali fled the country for Somalia.
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