A Toronto-area judge has handed down a 12-year sentence to a man who shot up a lawyer’s office and threatened a colleague with a gun, warning her to drop a case against a tow truck operator or he would return to kill.
The attacks — some which were caught on video — illustrate an attack on justice by someone tied to the GTA’s troubled tow truck industry, the judge said, pointing out the gunman ultimately achieved his goal as lawyer Lisa Carr went into hiding and shut her practice down.
“The work of lawyers contributes to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society. Acts of violence perpetrated against lawyers to intimidate them from representing their clients diligently and with commitment to the client’s cause have no place in our civilized society. Such acts are serious crimes,” Justice M Fuerst wrote in her decision.
The attacks happened in the context of the Greater Toronto Area's tow truck turf war, where unscrupulous operators have shot at and set fire to their opponents’ trucks to get better access to lucrative towing jobs that can bring in more money through exorbitant impound or storage fees.
Qalid Abderezak pleaded guilty to his role in a series of attacks on the law firm, which happened when he was on bail for robbery and weapons charges, and he was not allowed to possess firearms.
According to Fuerst’s ruling, someone smashed the front window of Carr Law in November 2018, and set fire to a small tree in the lobby. In January 2019, someone else broke the window in the front door of the office, threw gas containers inside, and ignited a fire that security cameras caught on video.
In August 2019, a vehicle pulled up beside Carr’s vehicle, pointed a handgun and pulled the trigger. Another man was charged in that offense. That same month, another lawyer who is said to resemble Carr was robbed at gunpoint while sitting outside the office.
“You are suing the wrong people,” the accused said during the interaction, according to the judgment. “Do you want to have kids? Do you want to grow old? Stop suing my friend.” Then, as he took her wallet, he said, “This is your only warning.”
The judgment describes texts between Abderezak and another man, Zakariye Yousuf, who tells him, “Yo U didn’t do it? The man won’t give me the info for the next job until u deal with that quickazzz.”
Just after 5 p.m. on Sept 6, 2019, Abderezak returned, got out of his Volvo and sprayed the reception area of the law office with seven bullets as employees huddled inside, before getting back in the car and driving away, Justice Fuerst found.
Source: York Regional Police (YRP)
The series of events sent shockwaves through Toronto’s legal community.
“What happened to Ms. Carr was harrowing. It’s not what anyone who goes to law school and becomes a lawyer is expecting,” Erin O’Donovan, the president of the Toronto Lawyers Association, said.
She said lawyers are rarely targeted by clients, but it was particularly unexpected for Carr because she was in insurance law. She said it’s easy to demonize a lawyer because that’s the figure in court, but the truth is any lawyer is a small part of an important system that helps keep Canadians safe.
“We are officers of the court, and an attack on a lawyer is an attack on the judicial system as a whole,” she said. “He felt that by intimidating one lawyer that would stop the investigations. That’s not the case. If it wasn’t Ms. Carr it would have been someone else.”
According to the ruling, Abderezak was born in Toronto.His parents worked as a cleaner and a taxi driver, but his father left when he was about eight years old. His family left the country but he returned with his sister in 2015.
“Mr. Abderezak did not complete high school. He gravitated toward the wrong crowd. He became a substance abuser,” the judge said.
“In his remarks at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, Mr. Abderezak apologized to the victims. He said that he accepts his responsibility for what he did and there is no justification for it,” the ruling says.
The judgment does not mention the organization that Carr was part of.
Meanwhile, the effort to rein in the GTA tow truck industry continues moving forward, with new towing rules on 400 series highways, and two guilty pleas from officers accused of sending some operators tips.
Search teams and emergency aid from around the world poured into Turkiye and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug, sometimes with their bare hands, through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.
Canadians now believe they need $1.7 million in savings in order to retire, a 20 per cent increase from 2020, according to a new BMO survey. The eye-watering figure is the largest sum since BMO first started surveying Canadians about their retirement expectations 13 years ago.
Critics say the U.S. and Canada had ample time to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it drifted across North America. The alleged surveillance device initially approached North America near Alaska's Aleutian Islands on Jan 28. According to officials, it crossed into Canadian airspace on Jan. 30, travelling above the Northwest Territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan before re-entering the U.S. on Jan 31.
China said Tuesday it will 'resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests' over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the United States, as relations between the two countries deteriorate further. The balloon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a highly-anticipated visit to Beijing this week that had offered slight hopes for an improvement in relations.
An Ottawa restaurateur says he was shocked to find his restaurant broken into and even more surprised to discover a giant hole in the wall that led to the neighbouring jewelry store.
Quebec's immigration minister says she was 'surprised' to learn the City of New York is helping to provide free bus tickets to migrants heading north to claim asylum in Canada.
John Benoit of West Jeddore, N.S., says he has been beachcombing for over 50 years, but his most recent discovery -- a Killick anchor -- is by far his most memorable.
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how the much-anticipated federal-provincial gathering will unfold.
A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians still see the United States as their country's closest ally, even in an age of isolationism and protectionist policies.
A 16-year-old boy has died after being struck by a snow clearing truck in the parking lot of Les Galeries Laval shopping mall on Monday night.
As the search continues for survivors, people in Quebec's Turkish community are doing what they can to help.
An elderly man is dead after a house fire in the small town of Saint-Philippe, about 30 kilometres south of Montreal. Roussillon police confirmed that the fire started around 8 p.m. in a home on Saint-Andre Road.
The public is asked to avoid a section of Highbury Avenue after a vehicle collision downed powerlines in the area.
An aggressive plan to address London, Ont.’s housing crisis has been unveiled by city hall, but meeting the construction targets will require doing things differently.
Netflix users who have been sharing their passwords with friends and family members who live hundreds – or even thousands – of kilometres away won’t be able to do so for much longer, as the streaming service announced its plans to end password sharing.
Google says on Monday notifications were sent to employees affected by the recently announced job cuts.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in Wellington County are investigating a fatal two-vehicle collision in the Township of Wellington North.
A 44-year-old Woolwich, Ont., man has been arrested for allegedly making death threats against a member of parliament.
Netflix users who have been sharing their passwords with friends and family members who live hundreds – or even thousands – of kilometres away won’t be able to do so for much longer, as the streaming service announced its plans to end password sharing.
A 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his first-grade teacher constantly cursed at staff and teachers, chased students around and tried to whip them with his belt and once choked another teacher 'until she couldn't breathe,' according to a legal notice filed by an attorney for the wounded teacher.
Canadians now believe they need $1.7 million in savings in order to retire, a 20 per cent increase from 2020, according to a new BMO survey. The eye-watering figure is the largest sum since BMO first started surveying Canadians about their retirement expectations 13 years ago.
An Ottawa restaurateur says he was shocked to find his restaurant broken into and even more surprised to discover a giant hole in the wall that led to the neighbouring jewelry store.
Homeowners and employees have been left reeling after an Orléans construction company suddenly closed its doors, walking away from half-built houses and projects worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An Ottawa family fled a fire in their home Saturday barefoot and in their pyjamas, suffering frostbite in the bitter cold. They're now waiting for it to be safe to return and assess the damage.
Two people have died in a serious single-vehicle crash in Kingsville, a third person was injured and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A city committee unanimously endorsed re-zoning lands for a massive proposed housing development in central Windsor Monday night.
One person has been arrested after an attempted break-in at Paradise Bingo Monday.
A 20-year-old female has been arrested for attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a Barrie police officer late Sunday night.
After a three-month-long investigation, a 69-year-old man was arrested on Feb. 2.
Environment Canada expects to see freezing rain early this morning.
Hundreds of Nova Scotians are still without power on Monday following frigid temperatures and high winds over the weekend.
A Cape Breton councillor feels with a 14 per cent increase now granted to Nova Scotia Power and millions of dollars in profits annually, residents shouldn't be paying out hundreds of dollars to operate a generator to keep the lights on.
While relatively short-lived, the blast of Arctic air in the Maritimes was enough to break some long-standing low temperature records for all three Maritime provinces for both Friday and Saturday.
Canada's premiers are in Ottawa to meet with the prime minister over access to more health care funding. But that's not all Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has on her mind.
Calgarians at home and abroad are reeling in the wake of a massive earthquake that struck a war-torn region near the border of Turkiye and Syria.
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how the much-anticipated federal-provincial gathering will unfold.
The province is building an interchange at St Mary's Road and the South Perimeter to help traffic flow better, but some drivers who live in the area aren't happy with how speed limits are being enforced in a portion of this construction zone.
The Winnipeg Police Service said it has linked two recent homicides in the city, with officers alleging the incidents were not random.
Search teams and emergency aid from around the world poured into Turkiye and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug, sometimes with their bare hands, through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.
There’s so much demand for Vancouver’s mental health emergency teams that people can be left waiting days, and sometimes teams never make it to requests for service at all. It’s hoped a funding boost to hire more staff will increase capacity of the service.
A dog named Kujo will be euthanized after a B.C. judge determined the animal is "likely to kill or injure" if released from the pound.
For more than two years, Canada’s premiers have been asking for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss a new healthcare funding model – and on Tuesday the group will finally get two hours of face time in Ottawa.
Canada's premiers are in Ottawa to meet with the prime minister over access to more health care funding. But that's not all Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has on her mind.
Search teams and emergency aid from around the world poured into Turkiye and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug, sometimes with their bare hands, through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.
After using Alberta's education curriculum since the 1950s, the Northwest Territories has outlined the timeline it will use to pivot toward British Columbia's program of studies.
