A Brampton man found guilty of discharging a firearm while subject to three separate weapons prohibition orders in a deadly Moss Park shooting has been sentenced to 10 years, nine months in prison.
On May 22, Nathan Bell was acquitted of first-degree murder following a six-week jury trial.
The jury also found him not guilty of two counts of attempted murder and not guilty of a third count of attempted murder, but guilty of the lesser offence of discharging a firearm with intent to wound.
Bell subsequently pleaded guilty to three counts of violating weapons prohibition orders at his sentencing hearing.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2023, Bell, accompanied by his friend Richard Baker, travelled by Uber from Brampton to the area of Sherbourne and Dundas streets in Toronto. Once there, they were joined by Baker’s brother.
The three men then moved toward a bus stop where a group of people were gathered following a social event in a nearby park. Their socializing continued until 2:45 a.m., when gun violence erupted.
At trial, Bell testified that he was there to inquire whether anyone in the group of strangers at the bus stop could sell him marijuana. No one present testified to hearing Bell make such an inquiry.
“Exactly what preceded the violent altercation, and precipitated it, is not clear, but evidence suggests that there was an antagonistic verbal exchange,” Justice Philip Campbell wrote in his judgment, “about property or robbery or both.”
During the exchange, a man named Omer Gedo stood up and walked with a side-to-side “waddling gait” toward the three new arrivals. “There is evidence that he had an elongated object in his hand, and he would later be discovered to have a hatchet or small axe in the front pocket of the hoodie he was wearing,” Campbell wrote.
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Baker and Gedo drew close to each other at a fence on the east side of the sidewalk. Moments later, gunfire erupted, sending people who had been gathered around the bus stop scattering. Video surveillance shown at trial captured the shooting over about 34 seconds.
Four people were shot, including Gedo, who was shot five times, two bystanders and a man named Kyle Provo, who was fatally wounded. Provo, 33, was shot once in the back of the head as he ran southward.
Bell, Baker and Baker’s brother fled.
Bell and Baker were arrested a week after the shooting. Each man was charged with first-degree murder in Provo’s death and three counts of attempted murder in the shootings of Gedo and the two other men.
Bell testified that he perceived Gedo as a serious threat to Baker when he witnessed a physical struggle between the two men and heard gunshots, which he believed had come from Gedo. Bell said he fired in self-defence.
Campbell called the shooting “a bloodbath” amid the “gunfire and the bedlam,” saying that, without direct insight into the jury’s reasoning, it was likely the jury rejected Bell’s claim of self-defence. The judge said it was more likely jurors concluded Bell shot Gedo with intent to wound him and doubted he formed the subjective intent to kill.
In handing down the sentence, Campbell noted that gun violence must be deterred, particularly in a case involving Bell, whose criminal history includes firearms and other weapons offences, robberies and assaults.
In 2017, Bell received a penitentiary sentence of 35 months, after receiving 31 months of credit for pretrial custody, for manslaughter. Campbell noted that at the time of the shooting, Bell had a criminal record that included 43 offences dating back to 2005.
“This late-night public shooting, in a crowded setting, by a man who carries an illegal firearm as a matter of routine, in defiance of the law and court orders, requires a stern sentence, at the upper bound of the appropriate range,” Campbell said.
After enhanced credit for time spent in pretrial custody, Bell has roughly six years and five months left to serve. He was also given a lifetime weapons prohibition order.
In his allocution, Campbell noted that Bell expressed remorse for the harm caused to the four victims of the bus stop shooting.
“Most pointedly, Mr. Bell said he knew he would ‘have to let the guns go’ and vowed that there would be ‘no more guns for me.’ It definitely is not worth it,” Campbell said.
Campbell told court that Bell, now 40, has a mother and sister who love him, extended family, a winning personality and an agile intelligence.
“He can be assisted in overcoming his history if he will accept help, though this is up to him and, at present, a matter of uncertainty. I would not want my reasons to be understood as sending Mr. Bell to prison with a judicial stamp of incorrigibility on him. There are enigmatic aspects to his history and character, and I find myself genuinely wondering what his future may hold,” Campbell said before Bell was led from the courtroom to begin serving his sentence.
A trial for Baker, Bell’s co-accused, is scheduled for next year.
