Jeziah Blair-Taylor showed no emotion as the family of Delauntae Bryant, an innocent man who was shot dead for no apparent reason four years ago, spoke about the grief and heartache they’ve suffered due to the senseless crime.
“I wanted to see the face of a murderer. He sits there with no remorse. No care. Folded hands,” said Keshaun Young, Bryant’s aunt during a sentencing hearing Thursday. “How he died was complete cruelty, wickedness and plain evil.”
Blair-Taylor was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder last month, after a three-week trial. It took the jury just over a day to arrive at their verdict. The victims were Bryant, an accomplice of Bryant named Eric Rowe who was mistakenly shot, and a 16-year-old boy who survived.
It was Oct. 1, 2019, when police were called to three separate shootings in a timespan of approximately 75 minutes in the area bounded by Finch Ave. W. to the north, Sheppard Ave. W. to the south, Jane St. to the west and Driftwood Ave. to the east.
In the first shooting, at 8:11 p.m., three men got out of a car, and without speaking a word, began shooting point blank at a 16-year-old boy as he was playing a video game on his phone as he walked along Venetian Crescent.
The teen began to run away, while the three shooters ran after him. The boy managed to escape and make it to safety at a friend’s house, though he had been shot in the hands.
The second shooting happened at 2000 Sheppard Ave. W around 8:45 p.m. Fortunately no one was hit. Video shown to the jury captured the three young men walking around the grounds of 2000 Sheppard Ave. All of them armed with handguns.
Crown prosecutors alleged the only man who was masked was Eric Rowe, who was shot about 45 minutes later. While the shooting is not captured on video surveillance, people can be seen in the distance beginning to run.
The final shooting happened in the courtyard of 306 Grandravine Drive, at 9:27 p.m. Video surveillance captures the same three shooters getting out of a white VW hatchback. The driver, who has never been identified, remains in the car.
The three men are seen peering into the courtyard where something appears to catch their attention. While Bryant cannot be seen on video, the video shows the three men running out of a breezeway into the courtyard in a line, firing. While the video does not show Bryant getting hit by gunfire, it does capture Rowe being shot accidentally by Blair-Taylor.
Bryant was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. He’d been shot in his forehead, chest, abdomen and wrist, with an exit wound on his back. Rowe sustained a single gunshot wound to the neck. He also died in hospital.
The third shooter seen on video is being tried separately. The driver has never been arrested.
Before sentencing Blair-Taylor to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for each of the counts of murder, to be served concurrently with a 12 year sentence for attempted murder, Justice Suhail Akhtar asked Blair-Taylor if he had anything to say. Blair-Taylor declined.
Akhtar called it “a senseless shooting with no apparent motive other than a perverted mission to take someone’s life resulting in two deaths.”
Bryant, a construction worker from Niagara was in Toronto celebrating his 24th birthday, the day he was killed. After court, his father told Global News there will never be justice for the loss of his son.
“On his birthday, of all days, he was taken from us. We’re all heartbroken. He was just there, seeing a friend and on his way to his cars and these guys just ran out and shot him for no reason at all,” said Mark Bryant.
Bryant’s uncle who did not give his name, called on young people to put down the guns. “We’d like the young men to stop with the gun violence. You’re killing off one another. It’s senseless. Young men, stop killing each other, especially black men. Find something else to do. Love each other and show more love.”
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