A Toronto man found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in the shootings of two young women at a Fort Erie, Ont., house party will spend 22 years in prison before he's eligible for parole.
At the sentencing hearing Monday in Welland, Superior Court Justice James Ramsay cited rapper Christopher Lucas's long history of violence and firearms-related convictions, the execution-style killing of one of the women and the impact the killings have had on the victims' families.
Christine Crooks, 18, of Toronto and Juliana Pannunzio, 20, of Windsor were shot during the birthday party at a rental property on the Niagara Parkway in Fort Erie on Jan. 19, 2021.
Niagara police say 2 women, aged 20 and 18, are victims of Fort Erie double homicide
Lucas, whose rapper name is El Plaga, was convicted by a jury in January.
Family members at the sentencing hearing read victim impact stories, citing their grief at losing loved ones.
The police investigation was hampered from the get-go by unco-operative witnesses: Ramsay said 13 people at the party committed perjury to protect Lucas.
On Monday, court heard that Lucas, who was in a relationship with Crooks, got into an argument with her at the party and shot her in the hand with the Glock handgun he was carrying.
Ramsay said it's believed Crooks yelled out for someone to call 911 before Lucas turned around and shot her two more times.
The judge said it's likely Lucas knew that Pannunzio, who was unknown to most people at the party, was the only one likely to call 911.
Crown lawyer Jody Ostapiw said in her sentencing submission Monday that Lucas then went to Pannunzio, who was sitting in the living room, and fired seven times at her. Four bullets hit her in the head and neck and the other three lodged in the wall just above her head in an "execution-style" killing, Ostapiw said.
Ramsay said the killing of Crooks showed how easily Lucas could be pushed to lethal violence.
The killing of Pannunzio, in particular, was "cold and calculated," Ramsay said.
"I find beyond a reasonable doubt that he did so because as a stranger, he did not trust her not to tell the police about the shooting of Christine Crooks.
In imposing the sentence, Ramsay noted that Lucas, who emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Canada when he was 10, grew up in a disadvantaged area where gangs were common.
