Murder trial of Toronto mother of 4 killed in random drive-by shooting set to begin

Wendy White walks into a Toronto courthouse feeling overwhelmed but anxious to hear the details of what happened on April 12, 2014 — the night her 33-year-old daughter was killed.

Police said Andrea White was in her garage having a cigarette with her common-law husband and 16-year-old daughter that evening, on Forest Creek Pathway near Morningside and Old Finch avenues, when a white Range Rover pulled up and opened fire from the passenger side window before fleeing the scene.

The mother of four was struck by gunfire and helped back inside her home by family and friends, but later died of her injuries.

READ MORE: Visitations being held for Toronto mother killed in drive-by shooting

“You know how they have that saying everything happens for a reason?” Wendy White said outside the courthouse Tuesday where she’s sitting in on pretrial motions.

“I don’t believe that this should have happened to my daughter.”

Michael Davani, 24, and Alwayne Bigby, 26, a former NCAA basketball player who won a scholarship to Northeastern University after a graduating from Eastern Collegiate, were charged with first-degree murder in her death and are about to stand trial.

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VIDEO: A former NCAA basketball player is accused of killing Andrea White outside her home

Officers spotted the white SUV on Highway 401 and after a short pursuit, the SUV crashed. Davani was arrested at the scene, while police said Bigby fled but turned himself in the next morning.

Bigby graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in criminal justice before transferring to the University of Rhode Island where he played the last two years of his NCAA eligibility.

“This homicide is tragic on so many levels. Ms. Andrea White did not deserve what happened,” then-Deputy Chief Peter Sloly said April 14, 2014.

“Her death has sent ripples throughout her family, the Forest Creek co-op, the surrounding neighbourhood and indeed right across the city.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Her death has sent ripples throughout her family, the Forest Creek co-op, the surrounding neighbourhood and indeed right across the city."

Homicide Squad Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga said at the time the shooting followed a memorial for Kwado Mensah – a man who was killed in the same co-op the previous April.

Idsinga said the two suspects were at the memorial in the west-end of the city before driving to the Forest Creek Co-op and firing shots. Police said they believed the shooting was motivated by anger over Mensah’s death.

“It is my belief … the two accused acted out their anger by discharging their firearm in the housing co-op complex where Mr. Mensah was killed in 2013,” he said.

READ MORE: Andrea White’s murder a ‘tragic, random act of violence’

Bigby, who was released on $100,000 bail after his arrest, walked into the courthouse Tuesday with an umbrella shielding his face from TV cameras.

“I couldn’t believe it to be honest with you, that he got bail, ” Wendy White said, adding she will try to attend court throughout the trial.

Jury selection is slated to begin April 13 with opening arguments expected April 18.

With files from James Armstrong and Peter Kim