Toronto Man Pleads Guilty in Domino Game Shooting Tragedy
So, there’s been a heartbreaking update to a case that shocked a lot of people in Toronto. It all goes back to the night of September 24, 2020. That evening, four masked men drove around the city in a rented Toyota Corolla, and over the span of just two hours, they carried out three separate shootings. The motive? Still completely unclear. But what’s painfully clear is the impact it left behind.
The final and most tragic of those shootings happened around 8:30 p.m., at a townhouse complex on Gosford Boulevard—right near Jane Street and Shoreham Drive. Anthony Martin, a 57-year-old man from Maple, was simply enjoying a game of dominoes outside with some friends. Just hanging out. Then, in an instant, gunfire broke out. Martin was shot in the buttocks and died right there. Another man who was with him was hit in the leg but survived.
On July 31, Elijah Simpson Sweeney, who’s now 25, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in that deadly shooting. He was originally charged with first-degree murder, but that was reduced. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for the injuries caused to the other man.
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At the scene of the Gosford shooting, police recovered thirteen shell casings—including one from a shotgun. But interestingly, the fatal bullet didn’t come from that shotgun. Still, Simpson Sweeney had been identified on surveillance footage walking stiff-legged, as if he were hiding a shotgun in his pant leg. That, along with other footage and connections to the group involved, tied him to the crime.
What’s really disturbing is that this wasn’t even the first shooting that night. Earlier, around 6:25 p.m., shots had been fired on Driftwood Avenue—though no one was injured there. Then an hour later, at a townhouse complex on Galloway Road, another man was shot while walking through the area. Seven shell casings were found there.
Police pieced the case together through surveillance footage, ballistic evidence, and digital data from Simpson Sweeney’s seized phone. That same phone had directions leading to the place where the getaway car—the Corolla—was later found burned out on John Cabot Way.
He wasn’t even arrested for this case initially. He was picked up weeks later in Niagara on a separate matter. And rather than turning himself in when more charges came down, he actually cut off his ankle monitor and went on the run. He was finally caught again in North Bay in January 2023.
One of the other shooters was just 17 at the time. He’d already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a youth sentence. Now, Simpson Sweeney is awaiting sentencing too. Before that happens, a report will be prepared to explore his background—including factors he may have faced as a young Black man growing up in Toronto.
It’s just one of those stories that leaves you asking: how did a night of reckless violence lead to such a senseless loss of life, especially for a man who was doing nothing more than playing dominoes with his friends?
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