The trial for a man accused of murdering two people continued Tuesday.
27-year-old Dillon ‘Ricky’ Whitehawk is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Whitehawk is accused of murdering 27-year-old Jordan Denton and 23-year-old Keenan Toto.
Denton was shot and killed on the 800 block of Robinson Street on November 9, 2019, and Toto was also shot and killed on the 1200 Block of Queen Street.
On Tuesday, the crown prosecutors presented their opening statements, with co-crown prosecutor Adam Breker calling the murders “senseless shooting deaths of two young men.”
The crown alleges that the murders were connected to a street gang ‘war’ between the Indian Mafia (IM) and the Native Syndicate Killers (NSK), and the Whitehawk was trying to ‘work his way up the ranks’ as a member of the IM.
Breker alleges that Whitehawk was a passenger in a vehicle approaching the victims in both cases. He said that someone in the vehicle asked the victims about gang affiliation before being shot and killed.
Breker said both victims “were in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Whitehawk has also been accused of January 2, 2020, death of Keesha Cree Alexandra Bitternose. He is also charged with first-degree murder, with that trial still scheduled to proceed.
The court is expected to hear from first responders, experts, witnesses, and people in the vehicle with Whitehawk on the nights of the alleged shootings as part of the crown’s arguments.
The trial is expected to last for three weeks.
