St. Aubyn Rodney: 17-year-old friend charged with manslaughter in shooting death

St. Aubyn Rodney was with friends inside his Jane and Finch apartment in what the accused’s lawyer says was an accidental

St. Aubyn Rodney, as seen in an independent rap video. 

St. Aubyn Rodney, just 15 years old, was hanging out with friends inside his Jane St. and Finch Ave.-area apartment when a gun appeared and he was shot.

He tragically wouldn’t survive the night after being rushed to hospital from his Toronto Community Housing building at 40 Turf Grassway and pronounced dead shortly after. In the chaotic aftermath, a 17-year-old boy said to be a longtime friend has been charged with manslaughter in what his lawyer is calling an accidental shooting.

“The deceased young person was in his apartment . . . At this time the deceased was in the company of several of his friends,” Det. Mike Carbone with the homicide unit told a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “At some point a firearm was produced and the deceased young man was shot.”

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When officers attended the apartment complex after 10:30 p.m. Monday, the 17-year-old, who can not be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was apprehended with two other males who have both been charged with breach of recognizance — an 18-year-old whose name has not been released and another youth, born the same year as Rodney, who also cannot be named.

As a community continues to mourn the fallen teen — the third youth under the age of 16 to die as a result of gun violence this year — new details have emerged about a boy who had fallen through the cracks of the school system and local outreach programs.

As a pre-teen, Rodney attended Oakdale Park Middle School less than a kilometre from his home, playing on a community basketball team and crossing the street to the Grandravine Dr. Boys & Girls Club after class.

But as he graduated to high school, local school trustee Howard Kaplan said the teen was regularly absent from the alternative program he was registered in.

“At one time, from what I understand, he was showing signs of heading in a positive direction,” Kaplan said after speaking with his former principal and other officials. “But after he left Oakdale Park he kind of disappeared from the system and dropped out.”

Kaplan said incidents like Monday’s are still rare in his experience, but leave unsettling questions.

“There are failures in the system,” Kaplan said. “How did the guns get into that group of kids?”

And more importantly, he said: “Why did they feel they needed guns?”

In Toronto court Wednesday afternoon, the 17-year-old was remanded to custody and is scheduled to return Feb 20.

Toronto criminal defence lawyer Nicholas Charitsis said his client had been friends with Rodney since elementary school and was devastated by the incident.

“My client is as upset as the victim’s family right now,” Charitsis said. “It sounds to me like something of an accident took place.”

All three charged are known to each other, Carbone confirmed Wednesday.

The detective said their investigation, of which few details are being made available as police continue to seek further witnesses, warranted the charge of manslaughter.

“The charge of manslaughter suggests that there’s an unlawful act in the death of this individual,” he said. “I believe there’s sufficient evidence to prosecute that case.”