A ten-second surveillance video shown at the first-degree murder trial for two men accused of killing an Etobicoke teen is disturbing and savage.
It captured some of the final terrifying moments of Trevor Seraphine’s life.
The 17-year-old could be seen walking into the vestibule of a Willowridge Road building, near Martin Grove Road and Eglinton Avenue West, in the early morning hours of March 21, 2015 as two men with their faces covered walk up behind Seraphine.
One of the men produced what appeared to be handgun and begins shooting. Seraphine managed to narrowly escape being shot, as bullets flew past him and pierced the glass.
At one point, he turned around and looked at his attackers, holding his hands up as if to say, “Why?”
Seraphine tried to enter the lobby of the building, but it was locked. He can be seen running into the corner of the vestibule in an effort to save himself. Miraculously he escaped serious injury before one of the attackers stabbed Seraphine — once in the chest and once in the back.
The video ended with the young man being dragged out of the building’s vestibule and out of frame.
The accused, 30-year-old Curtis Murray, and his brother, 34-year-old Corey Murray, were arrested within weeks of Seraphine’s murder after police appealed to the media for help in finding the suspects.
Crown Attorney Michael Coristine told the jury in his opening address that the Murray brothers were having a feud with a group of men from Willowridge Road, about half a kilometre away from where Curtis lived and where his brother Corey would occasionally stay.
Coristine said there were several interactions between the Murrays and the Willowridge group in the days before the murder, including an incident that happened on the night of March 19, 2015, when two men from Willowridge Road broke into Curtis’s apartment and ransacked the place before stealing TVs, clothing, and about 20 pairs of expensive limited edition Nike and Air Jordan running shoes.
The next afternoon at around 3:30 p.m., flyers were put up in the lobby of the Willowridge Road property where the shooting occurred that advertised a so-called “Block Friday Sale.”
Surveillance video shown to the jury taken around 4:30 p.m. appeared to show a man rolling a shopping cart full of Nike and Air Jordan running shoes into the lobby. The video showed people rummaging through what the Crown alleged was Curtis’s clothing and sneakers over the next four hours.
Corestine told the jury the brothers arrived at the lobby of the building around 1:15 a.m. on March 21 and found one of the flyers for the “Block Friday Sale” from the day before. Surveillance video showed Curtis ripping down the flyer before walking out with Corey.
The Crown alleged Corey and Curtis drove off and devised a plan. They were going to retaliate and take a life at the Willowridge Road building.
At 1:59 a.m., Seraphine was ambushed in the vestibule of the building. The Crown said while the teen may have been a random target, the suspects specifically targeted that address. He told the jury Trevor was in “the wrong place at the wrong time” and that it was a planned and deliberate attack on an innocent young man.
The Murray brothers have pleaded not guilty.