Trial begins for Toronto man accused of 4 counts of 1st-degree murder

A trial began Wednesday for a man allegedly responsible for four murders and a string of drive-by shootings in 2010.

Mark Garfield Moore was arrested in 2011 in connection with a rash of shootings, mostly in the east end, between June and November 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.

In its opening statement, the Crown told the jury Moore had grand dreams of becoming a rap star — even befriending Canadian rapper Kevin Williams who’s appeared with Drake.

The Crown claims Moore had no relation to the first victim Jahmeel Spence, a father of two who was gunned down in the rear laneway at 30 Greenbrae Circt., near Lawrence Avenue East and Bellamy Road North in Scarborough, on Sept. 10, 2010.

The Crown told the jury Moore took credit for the shooting, bragging to Williams that he was “terrorizing the boroughs.”

The first witness to take the stand for the prosecution was Const. Michael Robertson, who was the first officer to arrive after Spence’s shooting.

Spence had been at a family gathering with his wife and two young children when he walked to the store to buy a drink.

Police believed Spence’s targeted murder was a “case of mistaken identity.”

Robertson said when he arrived, he could smell gunsmoke as he exited his vehicle. He said he then approached Spence and saw blood on the man’s body and face. A can of fruit punch was lying on the ground.

Robertson told the court that he found eight shell casings. Spence had been shot twice in the head.

Nearly three weeks after Spence’s death, Courthney Facey, 18, and Mike James, 23, were gunned down on Weston Road, near Lawrence, while they were out picking up some food.

The fourth victim, Carl Cole, was standing in the parking lot of a Scarborough highrise on Nov. 24 when he was riddled with bullets from two handguns — one of them matching the same nine-millimetre used in the previous killings.

As many as 100 witnesses are expected to take the stand during the trial.

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