An Ontario man who was once Canada’s most wanted fugitive has been found guilty of manslaughter in the 2021 shooting death of a man in Toronto.
Justice Michael Brown delivered his verdict to Abilaziz Mohamed in a downtown Toronto courtroom Thursday morning, more than four years after he shot and killed Craig MacDonald outside a Boston Pizza in Scarborough.
At the outset of the judge-alone trial, Mohamed pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, but guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter. However, the Crown rejected that plea and proceeded with the trial for second-degree murder. The Crown had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Mohamed had the intent to kill MacDonald.
“I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to kill Mr. MacDonald when he shot, nor am I convinced he shot him and knew it would cause bodily harm. He didn’t have one of the required intents for murder,” Brown said.
“I find that the defendant acted instinctively or impulsively in the context of provoking words or actions, disinhibited by alcohol (and) he shot Mr. MacDonald without forming the intent for murder.”
On Oct. 13, 2021, MacDonald and Mohamed were both at the Boston Pizza and became involved in an altercation on the patio and in the parking lot, according to an agreed statement of facts.
During the course of the fight, Mohamed shot MacDonald – a 43-year-old father – in the chest with a .32-calibre semi-automatic handgun.
MacDonald was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital, where he later died. An autopsy determined that he was killed by a penetrating gunshot wound to the torso.
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Mohamed never surrendered to police. In April 2022, he was in an Ajax hospital for nine days for diabetes treatment when he was arrested
As Global News reported exclusively at the time, Mohamed was recognized in hospital after his picture was widely circulated by the media that day after he was named Canada’s most wanted fugitive by the BOLO program.
In November 2024, Mohamed said at the trial he never intended to kill MacDonald. He said after a day and night of heavy drinking, he was attacked from behind as he was leaving the pizza restaurant, where he had gone for a few drinks with his friend.
He said his head hit the ground, he felt somebody punch his forehead, he put up his arms to block the punches and he heard yelling but couldn’t make out the words. He said his friend told him it was people they ran into at another bar – Danny’s – a month earlier, with whom he had had an argument.
Mohamed said he noticed his chain had broken, went back to his car, which his friend was driving, put it inside and walked towards the restaurant manager, who was now in the parking lot.
Mohamed testified a woman from the night at Danny’s was still yelling at him, and although his friend was urging him to leave, he didn’t.
When his lawyer, Tyler Smith, asked Mohamed why he was still engaging with her, Mohamed replied, “Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking clear. I just wasn’t myself that night.”
Mohamed said he then saw MacDonald – whom he recognized from Danny’s the month prior – running towards him with his hands in the air, yelling.
“He was getting closer, I just reached into my pocket, I selected my firearm, I pulled the thing back and I just shot. I fired two shots. Everything happened so fast,” Mohammad said, adding that the shot hit MacDonald in the chest before he took a few steps backward and heard his friend yelling to leave.
The two jumped into the car and left, and Mohamed said he passed out in the vehicle and woke up the next morning with his friend still in the car. He said he still had the firearm, which he had bought the month before for protection, stemming from a 2021 robbery at Danny’s in which he was a victim.
During cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Sean Hickey questioned why Mohamed did not call police and report the 2021 robbery outside Danny’s, after which he testified that he decided to arm himself with a gun. At the time of the fatal shooting, Mohamed was bound by a court order prohibiting him having a firearm.
Mohamed explained “I used to sell drugs” and told Hickey it was his first gun. Mohamed admitted he had no gun permit and he had a court order banning him from having a gun.
Hickey suggested Mohamed was not drunk at the time, which he rejected. Hickey also suggested that Mohamed was not carrying the gun with him at the time he got into the initial fight with MacDonald, instead grabbing it from the car when he put away his broken chain. Mohamed denied it.
Hickey said as Mohamed and MacDonald were having it out, Mohamed took the gun out of his pocket, pointed it at MacDonald, racked it and pulled the trigger.
“Not once but twice, directly at him,” Hickey said. Mohamed snapped back, “Not true.”
Hickey also suggested that Mohamed had no intention of calling police that night, even though he had been assaulted.
Mohamed agreed, explaining: “I was going to go tell the manager about what happened so he could call police. I had no intention of shooting him, I just reacted.”
On Thursday, Brown said he accepted Mohamed’s evidence he lost his cool, and was not in his right mind.
Manslaughter carries a maximum life sentence, and the two sides will reconvene on March 5 for a sentencing hearing.
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