Three men have been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection to a fatal shooting in North York in 2020 that left a 12-year-old boy dead and three others injured.
On Saturday, the jury returned for the fifth day of deliberations and found Rashawn Chambers, Jahwayne Smart and Cjay Hobbs guilty of killing Dante Sebastian Andreatta.
Andreatta was grocery shopping with his mother on Nov. 7, 2020, when he was hit by a stray bullet during the shooting, which involved two vehicles in a parking lot near Jane Street and Stong Court.
Outside the courthouse Saturday, Chambers’s defence lawyer told CBC Toronto that the verdict should be reduced from first-degree murder since the shooting wasn’t planned.
“I’m used to outcomes that are dire and disappointing, but with this case, there was no motive, no connection for the parties,” said Monte McGregor.
The three men are now facing life sentences, with no parole eligibility for 25 years, in connection to Andreatta’s death.
The shooting began when two occupants of a stolen Honda Accord exited the vehicle and began firing at another vehicle in the parking lot, according an agreed upon statement of facts in the case, which Crown prosecutors finished presenting to a jury when the trial started in April 2025.
Three occupants of the other vehicle were injured, including one person who was shot four times but survived. Two other occupants of the second vehicle were not hit by gunfire, the statement of facts said.
Chambers, Smart and Hobbs told the jury they were there that afternoon to make a drug deal. Both approached the teens in the car to inquire if one of them was the buyer.
Chambers and Smart testified they opened fire after they saw one of the teenagers pointing a gun out the window.
The Crown had argued they were lying about the teens having a gun and there was no planned drug deal, saying the three men went to the area with a plan to shoot the teenagers inside the car.
McGregor said Chambers, Smart and Hobbs were leaving the area when the teenagers in the other car signaled at them to stop.
“When you really add that all up, how is that planning and deliberation? How is that a first-degree murder?” he said.
The three men were also found guilty of the attempted murder of the five teenagers.
Andreatta was hit by a bullet during the shooting while he was walking in the area, court heard. He died in hospital four days later from a bullet wound to the neck.
The individuals in the stolen Honda Accord fled the scene after the shooting. The following day, police found the stolen Honda Accord that was driven by Hobbs abandoned on a dead-end street near 11 Creditstone Rd., approximately four kilometres from where the shooting happened.
Smart and Chambers were arrested two days later at a Canadian Tire near Bay Street and Dundas Street W., while Dobbs was arrested on Nov. 12, 2020 in Halifax.
Court heard that police collected 36 bullet casings from the scene.
Chambers and Smart were carrying Glock 19 handguns when they were arrested, and police determined the casings found at the scene came from those firearms, the statement of facts says.
