Man Mrrested in Killing of 12-year-old Bystander Dante Andreatta was getaway driver in two other murders, Toronto police say

 

Police have arrested a man in connection with three homicides, including the gang-related shooting of a 12-year-old boy who was hit by a stray bullet while walking with his mother in the middle of the afternoon in northwest Toronto.

Cjay Hobbs, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Dante Andreatta, shot Nov. 7 as two males jumped out of a car and started firing at the five occupants of a vehicle in an area busy with pedestrians, families and others at Jane Street and Stong Court.

Andreatta, who was walking across the street with his mother after leaving a shopping mall, was struck by a bullet in the throat. He died four days later in hospital. Three people inside the vehicle were injured. They were later treated and released from hospital.

Police allege Hobbs drove the shooters to and from the scene, homicide Insp. Hank Idsinga told a news conference Tuesday afternoon at a northwest Toronto police division.

“We stood here in front of 31 Division last week and said we’re going to get everybody who is involved in the murder of that 12-year-old. And I think we’re at that point today,” Idsinga said.

“We’re alleging he’s aware the murder is going to happen. He helps facilitate that murder and his conduct after the murder also helps facilitate it. So, that’s a no-brainer — it’s a first-degree murder.”

Toronto police allege Hobbs was also the getaway driver in the May 26 shooting of Dimajrio Jenkins, 21, a popular Toronto rapper who was shot and killed in a brazen daylight shooting in the Entertainment District; and the Oct. 1 killing of Hamid Zakarie, 27, who was shot to death standing outside his vehicle near Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue West after putting his five-month-old baby in the backseat of a car around 9 a.m.

He has been charged with first-degree murder in both the Jenkins and Zakarie slayings. Investigators continue to hunt for the shooters in those cases. Hobbs was arrested in Halifax and transported back to Toronto, Idsinga said. He will make his first court appearance Wednesday.

Jahwayne Smart, 25, and Rashawn Chambers, 24, who police alleged were the shooters who killed Andreatta, were arrested last week leaving a Canadian Tire store in downtown Toronto. They were initially charged with six counts of attempted murder and numerous other offences. Since Andreatta’s death, each now also faces a first-degree murder charge.

Smart and Chambers have not been ruled out as suspects in the Jenkins and Zakarie homicides, Idsinga said.

While the driver wasn’t the triggerman, he is still faces a first-degree murder charge because he was part of a plan to carry out a murder, even if the boy was not the intended target, he explained.

According to National Parole Board, Smart was released from a federal prison last March after serving two-thirds of a three-and-a-half year sentence for drug trafficking, conspiring to commit an indictable offence, failure to attend court, possession of a prohibited firearm and possess weapons contrary to a prohibition order. (The law requires federal offenders who have served two-thirds of a fixed-length sentence be released from prison under supervision. This is called statuatory release.)

Smart was in prison when his brother Jahvante Smart was shot to death in broad daylight on Queen Street West in July 2018. Jahvante Smart was a well-known rapper from Regent Park, who performed as Smoke Dawg and had toured with hip-hop superstar Drake the previous year.

Sources tell the Star police believe Andreatta’s shooting is the latest connected to a long-running gang war. Jahwayne Smart and Chambers allegedly opened fire in the area north of Jane and Finch — in doing so hitting the little boy — that was home to Abdulkadir Handule, the man charged with killing Smart’s brother and another man. Another suspect is still wanted by police in the July 2018 shooting.

A preliminary hearing is underway in Toronto to determine whether Handule will stand trial for two counts of first-degree murder.

Before his death, Jenkins, who performed as Houdini, also represented the area north of Jane and Finch in his music.

Jahwayne Smart’s parole documents say he was not to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity. “It is abundantly clear you are deeply involved in gang related subculture including the trafficking of illicit drugs and weapons,” the parole board said in a decision that applied additional conditions above those that normally come with automatic statutory release.

The documents noted he had no offers of employment and appeared “to have supported yourself in the past through criminal activity.” Smart was released from prison last spring, days before the COVID-19 pandemic threw the country into lockdown.

Last August, York Regional Police issued an arrest warrant for Smart after finding evidence he was breaching a court-ordered weapons prohibition. He was never arrested and was at-large at the time Andreatta was killed.

Source; https://www.toronto.com/