Pubdate: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Metroland Media Group Ltd. Contact: http://www.therecord.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225 Author: Brian Caldwell Page: A1 TRIO ADMIT TO ROLES IN SHOOTING DEATH DURING 2012 DRUG DEAL Murdered drug dealer's father speaks after Kadeem Garbriel admits to killing KITCHENER - Kadeem Gabriel was recruited to do the dirty work in exchange for some free marijuana. Now he faces a life sentence after admitting Thursday to second-degree murder in a drug rip-off gone wrong in the parking lot of a Kitchener apartment building more than two years ago. Supplied with a loaded gun by his two accomplices - Jerome Phillips, 22, and Tyrone Wint, 24 - the baby-faced Gabriel, 23, pulled the trigger when robbery target Adam Jones apparently resisted. Jones, 25, a stocky drug dealer doing business outside his apartment on Belmont Avenue West, died of a single gunshot wound to the left temple. Phillips and Wint, neither of whom had prior criminal records, sat side by side and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. All of it, according to agreed facts outlined in Superior Court in Kitchener, was over half a pound of marijuana worth $1,800. "It's a tragedy that four lives are wasted and the lives of a lot of other people are devastated just because somebody decided to bring a gun to a drug rip-off," said defence lawyer James Marentette. Crown prosecutor Patricia Moore said Jones was an unemployed construction worker who had injured his wrists snowboarding and sold marijuana to finance his own drug use. Less than a month before the shooting, Wint did a deal with him that also involved two other men and believed he had been shortchanged. Another purchase was arranged for the evening of Sept. 6, 2012, with Jones and drug supplier Daniel Linder to meet the buyers in the parking lot. Text messages between Wint and Phillips, his friend of several years, showed it was to be a rip-off, with talk at one point about bringing mace for protection. Phillips then enlisted his friend Gabriel to do the actual robbery, with some free marijuana as his promised payment. "Gabriel is told to commit the robbery by just showing the gun and the sellers would then back off and hand over the drugs," Moore said, reading from the agreed statement of facts. In the parking lot, Jones and Linder were waiting in one car. The three accomplices arrived in another. Gabriel was then given a backpack containing a loaded gun, got out and walked over to the other car. Once he was in the back seat, there was a disagreement over the purchase price and Linder heard a "click." "Have you ever seen one of these, motherf-----?" asked Gabriel, a slight man barely half the weight of Jones, as he wielded the gun. Moore said Jones, who was in the front passenger seat, reached back. Believing it was an attempt to grab the gun, Gabriel pulled the trigger, shooting Jones in the head. "Gabriel is momentarily stunned and then flees from the car with the backpack, drugs and gun," Moore told the small, silent courtroom, crowded with relatives of Jones and supporters of the three accomplices. Jones was found dead at the scene, while the trio took off in their car at a high rate of speed. It was seen by witnesses and recorded by video surveillance at a nearby business. Gabriel then fled to Nova Scotia, while Phillips went to Jamaica. Wint asked his former girlfriend to give him a false alibi. The gun and backpack were never recovered, and Gabriel, Phillips and Wint all got rid of cellphones they used the day of the shooting. Outside court after hearing details of the death of his only son, John Jones issued a short written statement. "This situation was brought on by an association with drugs and guns," he said. "Lessons are to be learnt." Jones's sister, Lindsay Weber, cried as she listened to the facts while holding her husband's hand in the front row. "It was very hard to hear the last moments of his life and what happened," she said. "He wasn't a bad kid. He was a good person and a good friend." A sentencing hearing for the three Kitchener men is scheduled for Jan. 27, with Crown and defence lawyers expected to make joint recommendations. Second-degree murder, which involves intent to kill but no premeditation, carries an automatic life sentence with parole eligibility set at between 10 and 25 years. Possible penalties for manslaughter, which does not involve planning or intent to kill, range from simple probation to life in prison. Gabriel, Phillips and Wint, who have been in custody since their arrests within about six weeks of the slaying, showed little emotion during the court proceedings. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom