O’Hagan murder trial continues with neighbour testimony

Watch above: neighbours woken by gunshots the day Lorry Santos was killed

SASKATOON – Neighbours of Lorry Santos testified as the trial for a White Boy Posse gang member accused of killing her continued Monday at Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench.

Randy O’Hagan is accused of murdering the mother of four when he went to the wrong home on Sept. 12, 2012 after being ordered to kill a former gang member.

On Monday, court heard from Westview neighbourhood residents who were home at the time of the shooting.

Cary Tarasoff stated he was sleeping in a camper outside of his home that morning, right across the street from the Santos home.

He testified to waking up to a burst of three shots, followed by four more shots then it was “dead quiet.”

At the time, Tarasoff says he had no clue what direction the shooting was in but the gun shots were so loud his ears were ringing and it felt like he was right there with the shooter.

While Tarasoff declined to make a comment following his testimony, this is what he said the morning of the shooting:

“I was just laying there waiting to get up myself and heard a bunch of gun shots, came out, looked around noted what I saw, came in and called 9-1-1.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I was just laying there waiting to get up myself and heard a bunch of gun shots, came out, looked around noted what I saw, came in and called 9-1-1."

Shortly after making the call, Tarsoff testified police came pouring in from all different directions and at the time he had no idea anyone had been shot.

Also on the stand was area resident Marjorie Kowalchuk, who said she saw a 2009 four-door Acura on the morning of Sept. 10, 2012. She stated she took note of the vehicle because of its Alberta licence plate and tinted windows.

At the time of the shooting, police described the suspect’s vehicle as a newer four-door Acura, silver in colour with tinted windows.

On Sept. 11 around one o’clock in the morning, taxi driver Aqeel Muhammad testified to responding to a call at the Shoppers in Hampton Village.

Asking for cab fare money up front, Muhammad said he picked up two men in their mid-twenties who were both white, asking to be dropped off on Gray Avenue in Sutherland.

Last week, court heard from police who found what they believed were the handguns used in the crime in the Sutherland neighbourhood.

Judy Burlingame would also testify to being woken the morning of the murder by what she thought were firecrackers being set off in the back alley.

At first she said she thought it was children responsible for the popping sound but would testify to seeing two clean-cut, men dressed in black running through the back alley “like the wind was behind them.”

At the time of the shooting, Santos’ murder was Saskatoon’s fifth homicide of 2012.

This trial is expected to last two more weeks and O’Hagan faces two other first-degree murder charges stemming out of Alberta.