WINNIPEG — It was supposed to be the last stop after a long night of drinking for six friends. Instead, gun shots rang out over their breakfast and left one person dead.
The first hand account of what happened that deadly September night inside a Pembina Highway Salisbury House are finally coming to light as the murder trial for Devin Hall gets underway.
READ MORE: Trial for fatal shooting at Winnipeg Salisbury House begins
Hall, 30, pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of 23-year-old Jeffrey Lau and attempted murder of the Crown’s first witness Wednesday morning before a 12-member jury.
“It’s not rocket science. It’s a hit,” the witness told jurors.
Global News cannot reveal his identity due to a court-ordered publication ban. “Someone walked in and did a perfect hit like a professional.”
Lau, who was alleged to be a drug dealer, was the target of the shooting.
“Jeff did gamble,” he told the court. “I heard he did sell narcotics. But I never saw it.”
The witness, his best friend, was sitting beside him and was also shot twice.
“It honestly felt like it was never ending,” he recalled. “I remember being behind the booth and it felt like an eternity.”
While being questioned by crown prosecutor, Cindy Sholdice he was shot multiple times.
Lau’s mother and siblings sat in court crying as they heard details of their son and brother’s last moments. They chose to sit in the only seats in the courtroom where Hall’s face was obstructed by a beam so they wouldn’t have to look at the accused’s face during trial.
The witness said he wasn’t able to identify the gunman who stormed into the restaurant around 3 a.m. which a hood over his head, black gloves on his hands and his gun drawn.
Crown attorney’s played a short 14-second surveillance video to jurors Wednesday.
The injured witness spent three and a half months in hospital recovering from extensive injuries to his left arm and foot.
He recounts being “high out of my tree” on morphine while speaking with police in hospital.
During defence lawyer Martin Glazer’s cross-examination, the witness became agitated and the conversation more heated.
“You’re twisting my words,” he shouted as Glazer pushed him to recall specific details of his statement to police.
The man also said the group was not part of any gang but admitted “we go to bars and we fight. I was a bad kid back then.”
Later on in the trial the lone waitress who was working at Salisbury House the night of the shooting is expected to take the stand.
The trial will go until the end of June.
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