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Sentencing hearing for Regent Park shooters hears about chilling effect on community – Toronto
It was a tearful and emotional day at the sentencing hearing Tuesday for the two men convicted of the senseless shooting of three childhood friends in Regent Park nearly four years ago, including 27-year-old Thane Murray, a youth worker who died.
Noah Anderson and Junior Jahmal Harvey sat quietly as Murray’s mother delivered her victim impact statement, crying as she spoke about the devastating effect the murder of her son has had.
“What did my family do to deserve this? We are good people. We try to get along with everybody. It is hard to talk about my son in past tense. So, I say he was a good kid. He never gives anyone trouble, very respectful, kind, caring and helpful, loving, funny and so much more,” Dawn Murray told court.
Anderson and Harvey were found guilty by a jury in April of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The jury believed they were two of the four suspects seen walking into a parking lot near Sumach and Oak streets just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2021, armed with guns and firing 59 shots.
Assistant Crown attorney Karen Simone told court: “On April 26, Harvey and Anderson were convicted of the most cold, calculated act. In addition to an automatic life sentence, the Crown is seeking life sentences for the attempted murders of (Murray’s friends)”.
One of Murray’s friends was shot once in the foot, the other sustained 11 gunshot wounds.
“Their lives have been changed forever. They ran for their lives under sheer, excessive gunfire. Their evil should not go unpunished,” Simone told Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts.
One of the survivors wrote in his victim impact statement about how, after the shooting, his eyesight went white, and he felt someone holding his hand, which kept him alive.
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“From the waist down I was paralyzed, in a coma for three weeks,” he said. “I was fed through tubes, had a catheter in my body, and breathing with medical assistance. Once I woke up out of the coma, my arm was in a cast, and I couldn’t move for another three weeks. As time went by, nurses would help me physically into a wheelchair, so I could move around the ICU.
“The doctors had to go through two weeks of antibiotic trials to find ones that would work for the infection that happened in my kidney because of the incident.
“The nurses helped me to start to learn to walk again while I was still in the ICU, between the hospital and residential rehab at Bridgepoint I was in residential care for almost 4 months,” he wrote.
After Bridgepoint, he went home and had to live with an ileostomy bag for one year and in total, had seven surgeries.
The survivor said he also suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in the months after the shooting. He can no longer play basketball nor does he hang out with friends outside anymore.
Rob Perry, who had known Murray since he was a child and worked for the Salvation Army in Regent Park, spoke about the chilling effect of the shooting on the community.
“Thane’s death brought me, and a whole neighbourhood, immense sadness and grief. It was also a wake-up call. Sadly, in a community like Regent, I became used to funerals, and saying goodbye to young people I had known their whole lives. What made Thane’s loss different was that he really did try to do everything right,” Perry wrote.
“With this loss, we were not grieving unfortunate choices made by someone we love or wondering how we could have done better to rescue him from a path of drugs or violence. Thane was never into those things. He was quiet, he was faithful, he tried to be a good person. I do not elevate him as some kind of hero of the community who campaigned for justice or rescued people from the street.
“But in a way, he was a hero, as he chose the harder path — that is to try to be good, to make positive decisions, to operate with thoughtfulness and kindness, and not to follow the negative stereotypes or paths some of the people he grew up with may have followed.”
Many of the authors of the victim impact statements spoke about how ironic it was that a man who fought to help youth stay out of trouble was murdered by young men — both Anderson and Harvey were only 20 years old at the time.
“Gun violence isn’t new in our community, but this, this was different. Thane wasn’t in the streets. He wasn’t involved in that life. He worked with youth, giving them guidance and inspiration. To lose someone like him so violently and senselessly felt like a nightmare we couldn’t wake up from,” Jahmeeka Hussey told the court.
“It left many of us questioning: What’s the point of doing good if this is the outcome? It robbed our youth of hope. Thane was proof that change was possible, and now that light has been stolen,”
Simone and assistant Crown attorney Alexander Merenda told Roberts that there was no motive or reason for the shooting. Simone suggested the lyrics and rap song found on Anderson’s cellphone are strong evidence of an animosity towards Regent Park, “an oppositional area to that of Mr. Harvey and Mr. Anderson.”
The defence argued that a more appropriate sentence for the two attempted murder convictions would be 12 and 15 years. Both Harvey and Anderson will serve an automatic life sentence with a period of parole ineligibility of 25 years for the first-degree murder.
The sentences for the attempted murder will be served concurrently.
Neither Harvey nor Anderson stood up and addressed court when they were given an opportunity. Roberts will deliver her decision on a sentence for the attempted murder convictions next month.
The Crown alleges the two other suspected shooters are Jabreel Elmi and Rajahden Angus-Campbell. Elmi was arrested in Saskatoon in January, more than three years after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Angus-Campbell remains at large. A trial date has yet to be set for Elmi.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
TORONTO – Like a golfer admiring a drive, Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed a home run on Tuesday and couldn’t help but hold the pose for an extra second to watch the ball fly over the wall.
Teammate Addison Barger provided some theatre of his own with a no-doubt blast — complete with a bat flip — in the ninth inning that gave Toronto a walkoff victory.
Bo Bichette also flashed some power with a game-tying solo homer before Barger ended it as the Blue Jays topped the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 for their 22nd comeback win of the season.
“Huge swing from him, huge swing from Bo, both with two strikes,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “I love the way they went about it.”
It was the fifth time in franchise history that Toronto walked off a game with back-to-back homers. Barger also hit the game winner the last time it happened on Aug. 23 against the Los Angeles Angels.
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“I just don’t want to play extras,” Barger said with a laugh. “I don’t think anybody wants to play extras, so that’s all the motivation I really need.”
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Toronto (39-33) ended its three-game losing skid and improved to 23-13 at Rogers Centre.
Jeff Hoffman (6-2) threw an inning of relief for the win. Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt had a quality start, allowing three earned runs and six hits over six frames.
Guerrero set the early tone with an RBI double that scored Barger in the first inning before delivering a majestic blast in the third that travelled 448 feet, a team best on the season.
“If you get the top of the order rolling, I think we’re pretty dangerous,” Schneider said.
The announced crowd of 38,537 roared as Guerrero casually dropped the bat to begin a slow trot around the bases. He was 3-for-4 on the night — his 22nd multi-hit game of the season — and had three RBIs.
Schneider moved Barger up a spot to No. 2 in the lineup between Bichette and Guerrero with Alejandro Kirk in the cleanup position.
The move paid dividends as the top third of the order scored five runs had seven of Toronto’s nine hits.
“I think Vladdy being comfortable in the three hole is real,” Schneider said. “The numbers are what they are and conversations with him are what they are.
“I’m glad it worked out today, but I think you have to have people around him to make it work.”
Diamondbacks reliever Shelby Miller (3-2) shouldered the loss as Arizona (36-36) fell back to the .500 mark. Josh Naylor of Mississauga, Ont., had two hits and a run for the Diamondbacks.
The Blue Jays had four outfielders — Will Robertson, Jonatan Clase, Myles Straw and Alan Roden — play in centre field over the course of the game.
Clase got the start but left the game after the fourth inning when he was hit by a pitch in the right knee area. He was replaced by Straw, who suffered a right ankle sprain in the next frame.
The three-game series continues on Wednesday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Bo Bichette hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning and Addison Barger followed with a walkoff blast to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.
Diamondbacks reliever Shelby Miller (3-2) struck out Davis Schneider to open the Toronto half of the frame before Bichette hit a solo shot to left field.
Barger ended it five pitches later with a no-doubt homer inside the right-field foul screen.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also homered for the Blue Jays, who ended their three-game losing skid. His 448-foot blast was his longest homer of the season.
Canadian Josh Naylor had two hits and a run for the Diamondbacks.
Barger and Guerrero hit back-to-back doubles in the first inning off Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt to push the opening run across. A sliding catch by former Blue Jay Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in left field prevented further damage.
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In the fourth inning, Toronto’s Jonatan Clase was hit by a pitch in the right knee area and left the game. Myles Straw took over in centre field but was hurt in the fifth after crashing into the wall on Naylor’s RBI double.
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Straw, who suffered a right ankle sprain, was replaced by Alan Roden.
The Diamondbacks made it 4-2 in the seventh inning when Eugenio Suarez hit an RBI single that plated Ketel Marte. Guerrero singled home Bichette in the bottom half of the frame to make it a one-run game.
Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt (7-4) allowed three earned runs, six hits and a walk over six innings. He had five strikeouts. Jeff Hoffman (6-2) worked the ninth inning for the victory.
Announced attendance was 38,537 and the game took two hours 57 minutes to play.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
A moment of silence was observed before the game in honour of Dr. Ron Taylor, who won two World Series titles as a player and was a Blue Jays team physician for 30 years.
Taylor, who died Monday at age 87, was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.
ROSTER MOVES
Earlier Tuesday, the Blue Jays placed right-hander Bowden Francis on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder impingement and designated reliever Erik Swanson for assignment.
The team also selected left-hander Justin Bruihl to the big-league roster and recalled right-hander Paxton Schultz from Triple-A Buffalo.
COMING UP
Eric Lauer (2-1, 2.37) was expected to start for the Blue Jays (39-33) on Wednesday night against fellow southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez (2-3, 6.27) of the Diamondbacks (36-36).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
A massive deficit is leading the Thames Valley District School Board to make massive cuts to staffing in an effort to save $4.7 million.
The board said in a statement it’s implementing a series of “staffing adjustments” at the central board offices as part of its ongoing financial recovery efforts.
The board would not confirm the number of cuts; a representative for the board said in a statement the cuts would result in $4.7 million in savings on salaries and benefits.
This comes amid several other changes to combat a massive deficit.
Some of these changes have taken effect immediately, and the board reports that others will be phased in over the coming months, and the 2025-2026 school year.
“The changes reflect the Board’s commitment to long-term financial sustainability and ensuring that resources are focused on supporting student learning and well-being,” a representative for the board said in a statement.
The cuts come following a weeks-long financial audit of the board following outrage over controversial sending practices.
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The report found that the financial position of TVDSB has declined from having a surplus of $3.5 million in 2020 to 2021 to an in-year deficit of $17.32 million in 2023 to 2024.
While the projected deficit for the 2024-25 school year is expected to improve slightly to $16.8 million.
The board has already implemented savings measures including the staffing cuts for the 2024 2025 school year, which would reduce $16.8 million deficit to an adjusted deficit ranging from $15.9 million to $13.7 million depending on which cuts are made.
“While these decisions are difficult, they have been made with a clear focus on securing the Board’s financial stability and ensuring that resources remain available where they are needed most. The Board is committed to providing support for staff who are impacted by these changes,” a representative for the board said in a statement.
All this comes following highly criticized spending practices and the board’s director of education stepping down in March.
In March the board announced that that the board of trustees accepted Mark Fisher’s resignation.
Fisher has been on a leave of absence since early September 2024, which took effect just days before the school board revealed the cost of an off-site planning meeting in Toronto, totaling $38,444.92.
This includes transportation, the Blue Jays’ stadium hotel, meeting spaces and food expenses.
Following the controversy over the trip, Ontario’s Ministry of Education announced an audit of the board, which resulted in them finding the $16.8 million deficit.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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