A worker at the Toronto supervised consumption site near where a mother was killed by a stray bullet in the summer of 2023 has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the shooting after she helped to shelter one of the accused and became involved in a romantic relationship with him.
That summer, Karolina Huebner-Makurat was walking in the Leslieville area beside the South Riverdale Health Centre — where a supervised consumption site was housed — when she was struck by a bullet and killed after a fight near a supervised consumption site in the area between two alleged drug dealers.
In the weeks after the shooting, 23-year-old Khalila Mohammed, who worked at the supervised consumption site where the shooting took place, was charged with attempting to obstruct justice and being an accessory to the shooting, which took place on July 7.
On Wednesday, Mohammed pleaded guilty to being an accessory — with the charge of obstruction expected to be withdrawn.
An agreed statement of facts from the case reveals Mohammed was involved in a romantic relationship with Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim, who was charged with manslaughter and robbery after the fatal shooting.
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According to the facts, Mohammed had been involved in helping Ibrahim on the day of the shooting, when he was also injured and received treatment from a nurse at the supervised injection site.
Mohammed took Ibrahim inside after the shooting, changed his clothes and helped him to get an Uber away from the area, the facts said.
After the shooting took place, as a city-wide manhunt for the suspects took place, the agreed statement of facts said Ibrahim and Mohammed grew closer, quickly entering a relationship.
“Text messages between Khalila Mohammed and Ibrahim obtained by police established that the two of them had a relationship that blossomed into a romance immediately after the shooting,” the facts said, adding Mohammed knew Ibrahim before the shooting took place.
A slew of messages included in the facts show the two were “prolific texters” and that Mohammed had advised Ibrahim to “stay away for a while” to avoid being arrested.
As the manhunt intensified and police released more images of the suspects and even a video, the texts between the two suggested Mohammed urged Ibrahim to leave.
“They discuss the quality of the images, Khalila Mohammed again tells Ibrahim to ‘get out of the city’ and ‘lay low,” the facts said.
Next, the facts said, Mohammed arranged for Ibrahim to stay in a short-term rental in Pickering, where information released when she was arrested suggests she lived.
“On July 16, Khalila Mohammed told Ibrahim to let her conduct the web searches regarding the shooting for him ‘just to be safe’ and chastised him for being near his own apartment, offering instead to rent him a place through Air BnB,” the fact said.
Four days later, on July 20, she rented an Airbnb in Pickering through her account with the rental company.
“Ibrahim met her at the residence and the two spent the night together,” the facts said.
By Aug. 14, 2023, Mohammed was arrested by police and took part in an interview, her second with police. The facts said she denied knowing Ibrahim or travelling to the Airbnb.
Mohammed pled guilty to accessory to manslaughter on Wednesday. She faces three additional charges — accessory after the fact to robbery and two counts of attempting to obstruct justice — but Crown counsel Jay Spare indicated those three charges are expected to be withdrawn.
She is due back for sentencing in March 2025.
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