Adam Abdi was on a trajectory that would make any parent proud.
After graduating high school in Brampton as an Ontario scholar, Abdi was accepted in the engineering programs at the University of Toronto and York University. He excelled at sports and travelled overseas with his family to support humanitarian causes.
Yet, on five separate occasions in January 2018, Abdi drove his mother’s white Honda to Etobicoke, parked the vehicle, pulled a black mask over his face and randomly shot people he’d never met.
Miraculously, no one was killed. At the time, Abdi was under a firearm prohibition order.
Earlier this week, Superior Court Justice John McMahon accepted a Crown-defence joint submission and sentenced Abdi to 12 years in a federal penitentiary after he took responsibility for the unprovoked shootings involving six victims.
In October, Abdi pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of discharge a firearm with intent to wound, and breaching a firearm prohibition order. All other charges, including four counts of attempted murder, were withdrawn.
The sentence is on the “extreme low end of the range” but is appropriate in light of his guilty plea, family and community support, young age and mental health challenges, McMahon said.
Abdi is 22.
During three of the incidents, he discharged more than one bullet. At one crime scene, police recovered eight spent casings.
The sentencing hearing left one big unanswered question.
“It’s a mystery to us why these shootings occurred,” said Crown attorney Thomas Mack, noting that while the shootings have the hallmark of gang activity, there’s no evidence to support that.
The judge called the incidents “motiveless shootings” but said they appear to be another example of innocent young Black men being shot simply because of where they live, something “this court all too often lately has seen.”
Abdi’s shooting spree began Jan. 9, 2018 at 4 p.m., when he took aim at two people having a conversation in the front entrance of an apartment building at 560 The West Mall. Abdi fired several shots through the interior and exterior glass doors, sending the pair running for their lives. A projectile grazed the man’s arm, causing a minor injury. A 15-year-old girl escaped unharmed.
Next, Abdi targeted the Ardwick community, near Islington Avenue and Finch Avenue West. Each time, he drove to the Toronto Community Housing complex in a white Honda CRV and concealed his identity with a hooded sweatshirt and black Chicago White Sox baseball hat. He was recorded by surveillance cameras stalking in and around townhouse complex.
“I don’t think it’s any stretch to say the residents of this community must have been terrified by these shootings — that they might be the next random victim,” Mack told court Monday.
On Jan. 16, 2018, Abdi approached and stared at a man who was standing outside a unit in the Ardwick complex. Abdi produced a semi-automatic handgun, pointed it at the man and fired from close range. The victim ducked but was shot and a bullet grazed his upper arm.
Four days later, Abdi was armed and back at Ardwick in the late afternoon. He fired a shot at a man who was there visiting a friend. He dropped to the ground when he saw the gun and was not injured.
Then on Jan. 21, 2018, around 3:30 p.m., a man in his mid-30s was sitting in his car parked at 1 Ardwick Blvd. with his four-year-old daughter asleep in the rear. He was waiting for his girlfriend to use the washroom when he notice a tall, skinny man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and Chicago White Sox baseball cap approach his vehicle. Abdi fired multiple shots from close range, sending the man ducking for cover. He sustained minor injuries and his daughter was not injured.
About an hour later, Abdi was behind the wheel of the Honda when he fired at least two shots at a man walking on Cambrian Road, near Wareside Road, a 15-minute drive southwest of Ardwick. The pedestrian suffered two gunshot wounds to his lower torso.
Police reviewed surveillance footage which showed a white SUV making a U-turn about a minute after the shooting. Located on the ground nearby was an Ontario licence plate registered to Abdi’s mother. Police arrested him at the family’s house in Brampton, where they obtained a search warrant and discovered a black Chicago White Sox baseball hat, a Smith & Wesson gun and ammunition.
Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine told court Monday it would be wrong to conclude mental health did not play a role in Abdi’s crimes.
In October 2017, a psychiatrist in Nairobi diagnosed Abdi with having bipolar disorder. He was prescribed lithium, but when he returned to Canada, he did not seek further medical attention, Derstine told court.
That year was also a turning point, Derstine said. While in Somalia, Abdi, who “appeared more affluent than the people around him” was kidnapped. He was released days later after his uncle paid a ransom. His family noticed behavioural changes in him, something his sister, Salma Abdi, addressed in a letter filed in court.
The “incredible trauma” he experienced impacted every aspect of his life, she wrote, noting her brother became withdrawn, emotionally detached and reclusive.
“In hindsight, I wish we had sought the expertise of many more medical and health practitioners in order to best craft a plan for Adam’s well-being and success.”
The judge directed that Abdi undergo a psychiatric assessment. After his pre-sentence custody was factored in, Abdi has eight years and 11 months to serve of his 12-year sentence.
McMahon — once again — blasted the unacceptable number of lockdowns at the Toronto South Detention Centre, where Abdi has been held. Because “nothing is being done by the Ministry of Corrections to remedy it, to the best of my knowledge,” the judge said he would grant him enhanced credit of 76 days time served.
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