A Toronto man who shot and killed two strangers in April 2022 was likely suffering from a mental disorder that rendered him unable to know the moral wrongfulness of his actions, a forensic psychiatrist argues.
Dr. Lisa Ramshaw made those remarks in downtown Toronto courtroom Thursday in the trial of Richard Edwin, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in two fatal shootings on April 7 and 9, 2022.
Edwin is arguing he should be found not criminally responsible (NCR) due to a mental disorder. Ramshaw told court that on a balance of probabilities, a defence of NCR on account of mental illness is supported for the now 43-year-old man. “It was evident he was experiencing psychosis at the time,” Ramshaw testified.
In a report filed in court prepared by Ramshaw after she met with Edwin on two occasions in February and March 2025 to assess his criminal responsibility, Ramshaw writes about what Edwin, a registered gun owner, told her about the shootings.
Ramshaw, who is testifying for the defence, said Edwin told her “he wanted to be found NCR.” In the report, Edwin said he found out about the NCR defence when he first got to jail though he had not requested the reading material about schizophrenia and NCR which he was given. “He did not feel what he learned about NCR and schizophrenia influenced his self-report, though he thought that an NCR defence would be a good match for him as he had schizophrenia,” she wrote in the report.
Edwin, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2010 but stopped taking anti-psychotic drugs a short time later, told Ramshaw he had been carrying a loaded and concealed gun in his waistband for two or three years prior to his arrest for self-defence and self-protection.
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He also reported he was worried an “economic collapse” would lead to “pandemonium on the streets,” and believed this was likely to occur. Ramshaw testified he believed there would be job losses, panic and riots, and increasing food insecurity and stress within the country.
Ramshaw told Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly that Edwin had longstanding concerns he would be killed by the government, possibly through police brutality. He also had concerns that the Black population was underrepresented and was fearful of white supremacists.
“Mr. Edwin reported that he started hearing voices again (as he had in 2010) prior to the shootings in April 2022. He was feeling ‘pressured to pay rent’ and was preparing to go to the woods to set up a tent,” Ramshaw wrote in the report.
Ramshaw said Edwin reported that voices were telling him that if he went into the woods. he would get killed.
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On April 7, 2022, when Edwin admitted to shooting 19-year-old Kartik Vasudev outside Sherbourne Station, Edwin said he packed a bag, which included a tent, peanut butter, his AR-15 rifle and a handgun, and headed to the woods.
After realizing he had his cellphone on him and did not want the government to track him, Edwin said he took the subway east to Sherbourne Station. Ramshaw said Edwin told her he “started hallucinating about a man sitting on a tree stump.”
He described what the man was wearing and said he “told me to shoot that guy, so I shot him.”
Ramshaw said Edwin later clarified to her that at the time he thought a real man told him to shoot but once in jail, he came to realize that his experience was not based in reality.
Edwin told Ramshaw that he pulled the gun out “just to be obedient to the voices” and did not think about anything else while shooting the victim “multiple times.”
Ramshaw explained he ran away afterwards as he thought police would come, returned home, put his belongings away and decided he would not go to the woods.
He didn’t recall much about the day of April 8, 2022, but told Ramshaw that on April 9, 2022, while out selling Black history publications on the street, “two people with body language communication told me to do more.”
Ramshaw said Edwin told her he went home around noon and practiced shooting in front of a mirror as he did not want to shoot himself by accident.
Edwin told her he went to Dundas Station, walked through Ryerson University before walking to Dundas and Sherbourne streets as instructed by the voice. The voice then told him to shoot one of two men who he came upon who were conversing. Edwin told Ramshaw that’s when he shot the man in the back.
Edwin has admitted to shooting 35-year-old Elijah Mahepath after removing a handgun from his pants and pointing it at the back of Mahepath. After firing the gun multiple times, including after Mahepath fell to the ground, Edwin fled.
“When asked when he thought would happen at the time if he did not listen to the voices, Mr. Edwin said that St Lucia or Jamacia would be bombed, or he would be killed by the white supremacists from Ukraine,” Ramshaw wrote.
The psychiatrist said he was unable to explain the connection between white supremacists from Ukraine targeting him and shooting strangers.
Edwin told Ramshaw he did not characterize his action as self-defence, rather he “was just obeying the voices.”
He told Ramshaw he did not believe it was wrong at the time because “what the voices were telling me were correct,” and he was concerned what would happen if he didn’t. He also asserted that if others understood his experiences at the time, they would view the killings as justified.”
After searching Edwin’s laptop, which was seized from his Spadina Road apartment after his arrest, police found numerous body worn camera videos on his laptop, including some that were labelled and tagged to appear as though recorded at the time of the second murder.
The time stamp on the video itself was four hours prior to the time stamp on the title of the video. Based on the community surveillance video, he was on the way to the second murder during that time.
Edwin told Ramshaw several months after his arrest, he came to feel “foolish, stupid” when he realized his actions did not make sense.
“His presentation overall, he didn’t appear to be exaggerating … It didn’t look like he was malingering,” Ramshaw told court, when asked by defence lawyer Tyler Smith whether or not she thought he was feigning symptoms.
Ramshaw has concluded that Edwin was experiencing active psychosis at the time of the shootings.
Two tests were administered used for the detection of malingering, to determine if Edwin was exaggerating or feigning psychiatric symptoms.
“There was no consistent evidence to suggest that Mr. Edwin was making deliberate attempts to feign or exaggerate symptoms of mental illness,” wrote Ramshaw in her report.
Edwin sat quietly in the prisoner’s box Thursday, in the same track suit jacket he has been wearing since the start of the judge-alone trial. Crown prosecutors told Justice Kelly they do not agree that the utterances of Edwin in the report are admissible.
The trial continues.
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