MANDEL: Shooting survivor testifies 'all hell broke loose,' stray bullet killed innocent child
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Dante Andreatta was just walking home with his mom on Jane St. on an unusually warm November day almost five years ago when the explosion of gunfire erupted in the nearby apartment parking lot of 25 Stong Ct.
An astounding 36 bullets were unleashed from two guns aimed at a fleeing car in the brazen daylight shooting of Nov. 7. 2020, an endlessly long string of loud pops that sounded like benign fireworks — except that three people were struck, and one of them was 12-year-old Dante.
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Somehow, a stray bullet had travelled across four lanes of Jane St., striking the child. Dante died on Remembrance Day at Sick Kids of a single perforating gunshot wound to his neck.
Holding his framed photo, his grandmother sat quietly in the body of the court as the tragic sound of deadly gunfire was replayed for the jury while three men in suits sat crowded in the prisoner’s box. Rashawn Chambers, Jayhwayne Smart and Cjay Hobbs have all pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and to five counts of attempted murder.
Chambers, though, admits to being one of the shooters and Hobbs, to being the getaway driver of the stolen Honda that brought the gunmen to the south parking lot.
One of their alleged victims is lucky to be alive — but now he’s admitted he pointed his gun first.
Sullen and monosyllabic, Deshaun Daley, 17 at the time, was one of the occupants of the parked car who would be hit and live to tell about it — though not too enthusiastically. The jury heard he’s currently serving time for a break and enter and has a criminal record that includes gun possession.
Daley recalled he and four teens were “chilling and smoking” weed in his buddy’s car when he noticed the Honda approach with two people wearing “Covid masks” and then drive away. He next noticed two masked men walking toward them — one with a “bulging sweater” — and he decided to take out his Glock 26 from his waistband because he was high and paranoid.
“I pointed it out the window thinking I could scare him off,” he recalled. “And that’s when all hell broke loose.”
A dashcam video from a nearby vehicle was played for the jury showing two gunmen chasing after the fleeing car, the loud staccato of their shots echoing through the courtroom.
Daley never fired, he said. “I ducked for cover and put the window up.” As their car came under the hail of bullets, driver Jonathan Adamski, who was struck in the right forearm, sped away. One teen in the back was hit in the knee and Daley himself suffered four gunshot wounds — two to the left shoulder, one to the left thigh and another to the right leg. He still has the bullet lodged in his upper thigh, he explained, because it’s too close to an artery to be removed.
As they approached a stop light, Daley said he thought about disposing of his Glock down a sewer but worried someone might see him. Instead, they went to a strip mall where he began feeling like he was going to pass out and gave the Glock to Adamski to get rid of.
“He called me the next day telling me he threw it in a dumpster,” Daley said.
Asked if he knew why he or any of the others were targeted, Daley insisted he had no idea.
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The following day, the stolen Honda was located near 11 Creditstone Rd. According to the agreed statement, a rented Dodge Durango was captured on video surveillance meeting up with the Honda before the shooting and it was tracked Nov. 9 to a Canadian Tire at Bay and Dundas Sts. Smart and Chambers were arrested as they left the store — both in possession of loaded Glock 19s.
The jury was told 18 of the cartridge casings located at 25 Stong Ct. originated from Smart’s Glock and the other 18, from Chambers’ firearm. The agreed statement also said keys to the stolen Honda used in the shooting were found inside the Durango that Smart was driving.
On Nov. 12, 2020, Toronto Police announced their arrests and that they were still looking for their driver. According to the agreed statement, Hobbs used a fake Quebec driver’s license to buy a ticket that day to Halifax — and was arrested after his plane landed.
The trial continues.
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