TORONTO - The first person to stand trial for Jane Creba's death showed callous disregard for public safety by taking part in a gun battle that sent a hail of bullets through a Boxing Day shopping crowd, the Crown alleged Tuesday in its closing statement.

The man, known only as J.S.R. because he was under 18 at the time of the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Creba's death. He also faces weapons charges and six counts of aggravated assault.

"(J.S.R.) willingly engaged in a gunfight, discharging his firearm numerous times into a busy street teeming with people," Crown attorney Kerry Hughes told the jury.

"J.S.R. had to know that someone other than the northbound shooter was likely to die."

Hughes told the court that the gun battle erupted following a confrontation between J.S.R.'s group, facing south on Yonge Street, the city's main downtown artery, and a man who fired shots northbound.

Jane Creba and her sister Alison were among the throngs of bargain hunters on the street the day after Christmas. Creba left her sister to find a washroom, and forensic evidence heard at the trial suggests Creba may have heard the shots, crouched and was hit in the back.

"The exchange of gunfire created a matrix of bullets going in all directions with no safe refuge for ordinary people going about their everyday business," Hughes said.

The bullet went in just below the middle of Creba's shoulder blades and exited at the base of her throat.

The two contentious issues, Hughes said, are the identification of J.S.R. as one of the shooters and whether he caused 15-year-old Creba's death.

J.S.R., now 20, was arrested later that day with a silver 9-mm Ruger pistol, but Hughes said the defence will argue Wednesday that he wasn't the one who fired the weapon, rather that he took it for the shooter.

That pistol wasn't the one that fired the bullet fatal to Creba, but Hughes said everyone involved in the gun battle must bear responsibility. She likened it to street racing, saying if a bystander is killed by a street racer, both drivers are criminally responsible.

"J.S.R., trapping Jane Creba in the crossfire of that gun battle, is as guilty of her murder as the man who fired the fatal shot," Hughes said.

The Crown alleges J.S.R.'s group was outside a Foot Locker on Yonge Street, waiting for the man who would become the northbound shooter. Aware that the group was waiting for him, Hughes said, the northbound shooter came out with a gun barely concealed in his sleeve and made some comments to J.S.R.'s group.

"Are these your boys? 'Cause these are my boys and I've got a .357," court heard he said.

Instead of retreating, at least two people in the group pulled guns and, in response to the threat, the northbound shooter started firing, Hughes said.

J.S.R. was not the person who brought the gun downtown that day, so at some point the gun was transferred to J.S.R., Hughes said. There are no witnesses to when the transfer happened.

The defence will likely argue Wednesday that J.S.R. took the gun after it had been emptied, Hughes said, but the Crown alleges in response to the first shot from the northbound shooter, J.S.R.'s reflex was to grab the nearest gun and start firing.

Hughes also said the defence is likely to argue the shooter of the silver gun could have been one of the many other people in J.S.R.'s group, but she went through each person and made arguments to discount them.

"He is the only one who could have been firing that silver, semi-automatic handgun," Hughes said.