A man charged in connection with a Toronto playground shooting in 2018 that left two young girls seriously injured was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Thursday.
Along with the prison time, less six months for pre-trial custody, 26-year-old T’Quan Robertson also received a lifetime weapons ban and was ordered to have no contact with the two victims.
Robertson pleaded guilty in early October to attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. The crown was seeking 15 years, while the defence asked for 10.
It was on June 14, 2018, when police and paramedics were called to a residential complex near Alton Towers Circle in the McCowan Road and Steeles Avenue East area at around 5 p.m. after a gunfight occurred between two men. Two girls, who were five and nine at the time, were shot and required surgery.
In his reasoning for the sentence given, Justice John McMahon said Robertson pleaded guilty, which saved the family from reliving the “nightmare” and the public from a lengthy trial.
McMahon said according to the facts, Robertson and his co-accused were driven to Alton Towers circle for the “purpose of finding, shooting and killing” a targeted man but that they missed.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Robertson’s arrest.
He was apprehended after police issued a search warrant for another man in York Region in late July 2020.