Toronto rapper 'Top5' set free after judge dismisses evidence in 2021 slaying

A Toronto rapper who was charged in a fatal 2021 shooting has been released after a judge dismissed social media evidence in the case.

Hassan Ali, who also goes by the stage name "Top5," was arrested in Los Angeles three years ago in connection with the killing of Hashim Omar Hashi.

A superior court judge said Monday that Ali was free to go after ruling that some of the submissions were inadmissible as evidence.

"I can go?" he asked the judge smiling after he was told that the Crown would be staying the charges.

Hashi was gunned down while driving his car into the underground garage of an apartment building at 40 Falstaff Avenue, in the area of Jane Street and Highway 401, on Jan. 31, 2021. Police said he had no known criminal ties.

A suspect vehicle spotted fleeing the scene was later found engulfed in flames at Earl Bales Park near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue.

Ali was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and failing to comply with probation after he was arrested in Windsor, Ont. two weeks after the killing. In May of that year, police upgraded charges against him to first-degree murder, but they couldn't find him. LAPD eventually arrested him months later on Oct. 7. Police alleged he had cut off his GPS tracking bracelet and fled the country.

He appeared to release a music video from prison last year, in which he rapped "I was 18 when I bought a gun, 22 when I shot your son."

According to documents unsealed in an American extradition hearing back in 2021, Ali is a member of the “Go Getem Gang,” a criminal group that allegedly organized the botched hit targeting his brother's killer.

The documents said Hashi was mistaken for the person the gang was trying to kill in retaliation for the 2017 murder of Said Ali.

He was the third person charged in the killing and had been awaiting trial before the charges were stayed.

Ali had been in custody since his arrest in in 2021.

"An innocent man just came home," Ali told reporters outside the courthouse, singing the praises of his lawyer, Gary Grill. He said he maintains he had nothing to do with Hashi's killing.

"I hope they find whoever they did that. R.I.P," Ali said when asked about Hashi's killing.

When asked, he said he is not a gang member.

"I'm a businessman," he said.

A case of 'Rap on trial': Defence lawyer

Speaking alongside Ali, Grill said the case against his client amounted to "rap on trial" and was not strong at all.

"It was very, very weak in my opinion and I think this is the correct decision, to release Mr. Ali," Grill said.

"According to the Crown, there was somebody in a backseat of the car wearing a gray truck suit. That's the basis on which they were alleging that Mr. Hassan Ali, Top5, was in the back of the car," Grill said. "At no point was he ever alleged to be a driver or be a shooter. It's, at its highest, alleged he was in the backseat of the car that was involved in the shooting of this young man who unfortunately was murdered."

He said that the Crown alleged Ali to be the mastermind behind the killing "based only on his lyrics, based only on his rap, based only on his persona as Top5" and said that was the key problem with their case.

"The problem about prosecuting artists like Mr. Ali based on their music; it fails to understand what the medium is, what's it about, and how drillers approach their audiences," Grill said. "It's important for all drillers to portray themselves as the biggest, baddest gangsters on the planet. That's what sells. That's what all drillers are doing."

Drill refers to a subgenre of hip-hop associated with gang warfare and retaliation.

"The way that Mr. Ali was charged in the first place was as a result of his lyrics, it was a result of the videos that he was putting out there, as a result of his medium as a drill rap artist that attracted the attention with the police," Grill said.

He acknowledged that the charges against Ali could still be revived

"I very much hope this is the end of matters for Mr. Ali, but I'm considering all options and all things that the Crown could do going forward. I just don't know yet," Grill said, noting he just found out about the stay of charges today.

Ali also thanked Drake, who he said has been supportive throughout his case.

"I'm worried about making a million dollars tonight," he said. " Shout out to every up-and-coming artist in the game."

He added that he plans to work "to bring every community together, stop the violence, positivity."

When asked by CP24 what the lyrics in the video meant if they didn't relate to the killing, Ali said "It's all fake. Cap." (Cap is a slang word for a lie)

He then ran over to a waiting Mercedes-Benz and sped away.

With files from Siobhan Morris and Beatrice Vaisman