A man who “endangered the lives and safety of hundreds of people” when he opened fire inside a crowded Toronto mall in 2021 has been sentenced to nine years in prison, a judge has ruled.
In her written decision released last week, Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell said Brandon Neliko “put many lives at risk” when he shot at another man inside Yorkdale Shopping Centre on Aug. 29, 2021.
According to the agreed statement of facts previously submitted to the court, Neliko and his girlfriend were shopping at the mall that day when he encountered two men who he identified as drug-trade rivals.
He then pulled out a loaded handgun and fired two shots in the direction of the men, the judge said. One of those men, identified as Ayobami Owusu, fired three shots back. The men, along with and Neliko and his girlfriend, then fled the area.
“Miraculously, no one was shot,” the judge wrote. “After the shots were fired, the area erupted into chaos.”
Owusu, who was later found guilty of reckless discharge of a firearm, was attempting to run toward the exit when he tripped over a baby stroller, “causing injury to the baby,” the judge noted.
Neliko, she said, broke through a locked glass door to escape the mall.
“Surveillance footage from the mall after the shooting shows people running and falling,” Forestell wrote. She added that 911 received multiple calls from shoppers locked down inside the mall who were “terrified after the shooting.”
She called Neliko’s conduct “deliberate and profoundly dangerous.”
“Mr. Neliko not only put the intended victim at risk but also endangered the lives and safety of hundreds of others. Although no one was shot, bystanders were injured physically in the aftermath of the shooting. Many others suffered psychological harm as a result,” she wrote.
An older shopper, Forestell said, tripped and fell during the commotion and suffered a fracture to her cheek, broken teeth, and bruising.
Forestell said during the sentencing hearing, Neliko claimed that he fired on Stafford because he saw the other man reaching for a gun.
“I accept that Mr. Neliko perceived a threat when he saw the other man because he was engaged in a dispute with the man over drug territory. I do not accept that he saw the man reach for a gun because the video simply does not support that fact,” Forestell wrote.
She noted that while there are a number of aggravating factors in the case, there were also mitigating circumstances to consider, including the fact that Neliko pleaded guilty and expressed genuine remorse for the harm he caused, particularly to the older shopper who was injured. Another mitigating factor, she wrote, was the harsh conditions he endured in jail while in pre-sentence custody.
Some of the harsh conditions included repeated lock-downs and frequent strip searches of the accused.
“My conclusion that the number and manner of the searches did not rise to the level of a Charter breach does not mean that the searches did not impact Mr. Neliko,” she wrote, calling the searches humiliating and degrading.
He was also subjected to anti-Black racism both before and after his incarceration, the judge said, adding that he experienced racism in the education system and was subjected to racial profiling.
With credit for time served before sentencing, Neliko has five years and seven months remaining on his sentence.
