A 27-year-old Toronto man has been charged with the murders of four people.
Mark Moore faces 54 charges including four counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Jahmeel Spence, Courthney Facey, Mike James and Carl Cole.
All were murdered between June and November 2010.
The other charges are in connection with a number of botched drive-by shootings, two schoolyard shootings and an armed robbery. Moore also faces one count of attempted murder in connection with an August 2010 shooting in a Scarborough alley.
"These crimes cause people to become fearful, they make people afraid to use public spaces and these crimes demand a response," Chief Bill Blair said in announcing the charges Wednesday morning. "This is an important investigation and an important result."
Moore has been in custody at Don Jail since March on charges related to a nightclub shooting in Toronto's Entertainment District. He was transported to Eglinton Avenue courthouse where he was formally charged this morning. At that point, the families of his alleged victims were contacted and told of his arrest. Many of them attended the news conference announcing the charges about an hour later, but they declined to speak.
"It is tremendously important as we announce these results to remember the victims of these terrible crimes and the families of these victims," Blair said. "We lost four men and their families have experienced an unimaginable loss."
In February police identified Moore as a person of interest in the November shooting death of 45-year-old Carl Cole. Cole, a married father of three, was found lying on a Scarborough road suffering from several gunshot wounds on Nov. 29 and pronounced dead a short time later. According to police, Cole was involved in some kind of 'dispute' with Moore, but they did not go into details.
By March, police linked Moore to three additional murders, including the September 2010 double murder of Courthney Facey, 18, and Mike James, 23, near Lawrence Avenue and Weston Road.
In that incident, Facey and James were found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in an alleyway. At the time witness accounts suggested the shooter was driving a black BMW X5 sport utility vehicle and surveillance footage showed a vehicle matching their description speeding away from the scene.
The fourth murder occurred in September 2010. In that incident, Jahmeel Spence, a 27-year-old father of two police said was mistaken for another man, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in a Greenbrae Circuit alleyway. At the time witness accounts suggested a man was scene fleeing the scene in a four-door Honda.
On Wednesday police confirmed that a black BMW X5 and a Honda Accord were seized from Moore.
Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga said information from the community was integral as police built their case. Police had made an appeal for information on a number of different occasions over the last several months and in September, separate memorials were held for Spence, Facey and James.
"They weren't gang bangers and they weren't involved in criminal activity," Idsinga said of the victims. "You can gain a lot of notoriety on the streets for killing people but when you kill people that aren't involved in the game you aren't going to get protection."
As a result into the investigation, known as "Project Summit," police have also arrested and charged three people with 40 weapons-related offences. Three people have also been charged with a number of drug-related offences. None of them were identified Wednesday.
"I do expect more arrests," Idsinga said. "Once we sort through a mountain of evidence people will be arrested and charged."
An aspiring hip hop artist, Moore goes by the name 'Prezidenteeh.' In one of his videos available on YouTube he is seen throwing around $100 bills and showing off jewelry. The video, titled "Gettin Money" features several friends who Moore introduces one by one.
"Gettin (sic) this money, it's nothing," he says. "You think this is a joke. This is what it really is."
Moore's next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 21.
