13-year prison sentence for 2nd man convicted in 2018 Toronto playground shooting

A 25-year-old man who participated in a Scarborough playground shooting in June 2018 has been sentenced to 13 years in a penitentiary.

Tarrick Rhoden was sentenced via zoom from the Toronto East Detention Centre Tuesday morning for his role in the brazen daylight shooting at Alton Towers Circle that resulted in two sisters, aged 5 and 9, being seriously injured.

Rhoden was 23 years old at the time and though he didn’t fire the shots that injured the girls, he was party to the offence.

Rhoden was arrested four days later with a loaded restricted firearm.

He pleaded guilty to one count of discharging a firearm, two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a loaded firearm.

His co-accused T’Quan Robertson was also sentenced in October to 13 years in prison. He was the presumed shooter.

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Impact statements were read out from the sisters’ mother who witnessed the family, and the victims themselves, who said they have been physically and emotionally scarred for life.

The crown and defence jointly submitted a sentence that 13 years in prison was appropriate for Rhoden.

Justice John McMahon agreed to the sentence and told the court, “This case is a sad commentary on how bad gun violence has become in the City of Toronto.”

“Not a day goes by where there is not indiscriminate gunfire,” McMahon said. “The message must be those who use firearms in a public place will go to the penitentiary for an extended period of time.”

After credit from pre-trial custody, including lockdowns due to COVID-19, Rhoden has eight years and eight months left to serve.

Court heard he will also be deported upon his release from prison. Rhoden told the court he was sorry for his actions and the pain he has caused the family.

A third co-accused is still before the courts.

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