WATCH: Victim of Eaton Centre shooting says he forgives the man who shot him. Peter Kim reports
TORONTO – The teenager who was shot in the head during the Eaton Centre shooting three years ago said Thursday he holds no resentment towards the man accused of shooting him.
Connor Stevenson was 13 years old the day he was shot. He was in the Eaton Centre food court with his mother, Jo-Anne Finney, when Christopher Husbands opened fire, killing two people and injuring several others, including Stevenson.
“There was warmness in my head, I was dizzy. It was just surreal. I guess I didn’t fully comprehend what was going on,” Stevenson told reporters outside of a Toronto courtroom Thursday.
Finney testified at the murder trial of Husbands Thursday. She told the courtroom she dove under a table with her two children and was attempting to move behind a pillar when she noticed a pool of blood nearby.
“I could only see Connor ahead of me; I had lost the ability to see colour or anything like that. It was a very focused, the most focused I’ve ever been in my life on one thing,” she told reporters Thursday.
“When Connor started to stiffen out and pass out, there was a point of time when I didn’t think he would make it out of there.”
WATCH: Hear why the teenager who was shot in the head at the Eaton Centre three years ago doesn’t hold a grudge against the accused shooter.
Finney and her daughter Taylor tried to keep Stevenson conscious and asked him questions while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
Stevenson, now 16 years old, said he’s fine and living the normal life of a teenager. There’s still some shrapnel in his head but he’s not uncomfortable.
“I’m very lucky because of all the EMS and first responders and everyone who put in work to saving me,” he said.
READ MORE: Eaton Centre shooting trial hears from girlfriend of accused
Husbands, 25, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. In addition to murder, he’s also charged with five counts of aggravated assault, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and recklessly discharging a firearm.
He’s admitted to pulling the trigger but said he didn’t go to the mall with the intention of killing anyone.
His lawyer, Dirk Derstine, has said previously during the trial the shooting was the result of a “chance encounter” with a group of five men that prompted him to shoot.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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