Two teenaged boys charged in the Boxing Day shooting of 15-year-old Jane Creba and a key prosecution witness appeared in a downtown Toronto court Monday.

The 20-year-old witness, Richard Steele, told reporters outside the Old City Hall courthouse that he's more cautious about his life since he has been ordered to testify.

"It's a scary thing. You don't know who's going to come out these days shooting people," Steele said Monday.

"It's a scary thing out there, so I'm aware. I'm not afraid, but I'm aware."

Witnesses were brought to the courthouse on Monday for a preliminary hearing and to receive a court date regarding their testimony.

Crown prosecutors allege Steele was standing next to Creba when she was shot on Yonge Street and may have been the intended target.

Steele had just been released from jail on gun and drug charges when the 2005 daytime shooting claimed Creba's life and wounded six others.

Steele said Monday that his designation as a star witness has caused him problems and he denies his testimony is significant.

"I'm not a star witness to anything. That can cause some problems, star witness, that's wrong. I'm a star, but to say I'm a witness, no, that's not cool," Steele said.

However, Steele can be heard on cellphone wiretaps, recorded directly after the shooting, telling someone that he saw Creba fall beside him.

Steele also said a group of men was seen running toward him when Creba was shot and that he was robbed at the Eaton Centre, also by a group of men, only 30 minutes before the shooting.

Prosecutors are forcing Steele to testify in their case. His lawyer has attempted to lift the court order, but a judge ruled it was Steele's moral and civic duty to testify.

Jane Creba was killed when a fight between two groups of approximately 15 youths erupted into gunfire that caught shoppers crowded in Toronto's busy shopping area.

Caught in the crossfire, Creba died on the scene -- making her the city's 52nd gunshot fatality that year.

A full trial in the Creba case is scheduled to take place next summer.

With a report from CTV's Chris Eby