‘Malik Mbuyi is the shooter’: Judge

A Superior Court judge declared Malik Mbuyi is the man who shot Larry Reynolds and Lynn VanEvery on July 18, 2019 at the entry of their Brantford home.

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Mbuyi was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder on Friday afternoon.

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“Malik Mbuyi is the shooter of Larry Reynolds and Lynn VanEvery,” said Goodman.

The judge declined to find Mbuyi guilty of first-degree murder or conspiracy to commit murder, suggesting he believed Kareem Zedan, another member of the crew, who testified he didn’t tell the others involved about the contract until they were at the house on Park Road South.

The decision came after weeks of deliberation and a multi-week trial of Mbuyi, one of seven men who were charged in the shooting that shocked the city.

While the Crown’s theory of the double homicide was largely based on circumstantial evidence to identify the masked shooter seen on surveillance video, Goodman said he followed the evidence presented that showed only one of the “crew” had the distinctive body shape, that it was possible the shooter’s right hand was injured during the crime and that it was Mubyi’s blood found in the formerly-pristine getaway car.

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The news was greeted with relief by Reynolds-Van Every family members and close friends who were in the Brantford courtroom to hear the verdict.

“Finally, some justice,” said one woman.

“I just wish it was over,” said another woman. “By the time they do all these reports and we see what the judge decides… the torture continues.”

The case will return to court at the end of the month to have new dates set for receiving a full pre-sentence report.

Sentencing for Mbuyi could be delayed for up to half a year, although he remains in custody. His lawyer is asking for a special report that will outline his background growing up as a disenfranchised Black youth in Toronto.

As Mbuyi was escorted from the courtroom, a woman tried to embrace him and was held back by the guards.

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“I just got life,” Mbuyi complained to the guards as the woman wept and then ran from the courtroom.

The double homicide case has been moving through various courts for years with Terrell Philbert, Thomy Baez-Eusebio, and Dylan Alridge all pleading guilty to conspiring to commit an unspeakable offense with a firearm. Philbert was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison while Baez-Eusebio and Alridge got time-served sentences of 29 and 30 months.

Kareem Zedan, whose testimony was undermined by his repeated lies both to police and in court, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, saying he took a contract on the life of Roger VanEvery and assembled a Toronto-based crew to help him fulfill it. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Salloum Jassem, who was accused of offering that contact, was acquitted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiring to commit murder.

A seventh man, Nathan Howes of Brantford, still faces two charges of first-degree murder.

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