`Definitely targeted'
T.O. man charged in deadly shooting
A 21-year-old Toronto man is now in custody charged with first degree-murder in the June death of another man, police said Thursday.
The accused is also alleged to be involved in a second shooting last month and was in possession of high-powered weapons, including a Romanian variant AK-47, according to Toronto Police.
Det. Sajeev Nair said outside 33 Division in North York that officers executed search warrants Wednesday at four Toronto addresses and a vehicle.
Nair announced the arrest of Brandon Turner in connection with the June 27 deadly shooting of Marsell Bryan, 23, that occurred just before 3 a.m. outside a condo complex near Victoria Park Ave. and Finch Ave. E. where the victim lived with family.
“Brandon Turner was located at one of those addresses and charged with first-degree murder and the discharge-of-firearms offences,” Nair said. “Officers located a Glock 9-mm handgun with an extended magazine and a Romanian variant AK-47 with a high capacity magazine at the same address.”
The subsequent shooting Nair spoke of occurred in Etobicoke just before midnight on Aug. 15 on Jamestown Cres., near Martin Grove Rd. and John Garland Blvd., where a 25-year-old man was shot but survived.
“That shooting involved four male suspects,” Nair said. “That investigation revealed that one of those males had an automatic firearm.”
The investigation yielded information that Turner was allegedly one of the four shooters that night and was then linked to Bryan's death.
Nair wouldn't get into the evidence of Bryan's slaying other than to say “it was definitely targeted” and he was shot several times.
“In that incident, there were two male shooters. We are alleging that Brandon Turner is one of them,” Nair said.
Police were still trying to track down the second shooter.
Nair said more than 20 shots were fired during that homicide and confirmed that a video of the shooting that circulated on social media that day “is now part of the case.”
He couldn't say whether the Glock that was seized was involved in Bryan's killing — that would have to be determined by the Centre for Forensic Sciences.
The AK-47 is a clone of the Soviet-era model made for the Romanian military service in 1963 and '65.
On June 27, the parking lot at the condo complex was littered with at least 56 orange police evidence cones that zigzagged across the pavement, while bullet holes scarred the glass at the front foyer and second-floor windows.
Along with the homicide charge, Turner also faces 11 weapons-related charges, theft obtained by crime over $5,000, discharging a firearm with intent to wound and having a weapon in a motor vehicle.
Nair said the accused was known to police.
He appeared in court Thursday to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the city's 44th homicide of the year.