Surveillance video clips shown in court reveal the panic and chaos that erupted at the Eaton Centre in 2012, when a gunman opened fire in the mall’s packed food court.
Footage from several security cameras located throughout the area was shown in court on Wednesday, where 25-year-old Christopher Husbands is being tried on two counts of first-degree murder.
Video clips showed Husbands and his girlfriend, Lachelle John, standing in a sushi counter line.
While the couple waits, a group of five men in dark clothing can be seen in footage from a different camera, descending an escalator to the lower-level food court. When the group arrives, Husbands can be seen pulling out a gun and running after them.
As Husbands runs, his girlfriend calmly takes her food from the sushi counter, grabs Husband’s shopping bags, and walks away.
Footage from another camera shows shoppers dropping to the ground, ducking under tables, and trying to crawl up a downward escalator.
One of the men in the group of five, who Det. Sgt. Tam Bui identified as Ahmed Hassan, can be seen in the video walking before he collapses. Hassan died at the scene from a gunshot wound.
A different camera shows a security guard tending to another member of the group, Nixon Nirmalendran, who died later in hospital.
Husbands has pleaded not guilty, admitting that he was responsible for the deaths and injuries, but denying that he intended to kill anyone.
