A woman on trial for a fatal 2020 shooting was among seven people arrested following a standoff at a west London home this week that ended after police threw a tear-gas cannister into the house.
A woman on trial for a fatal 2020 shooting was among seven people arrested following a standoff at a west London home this week that ended after police threw a tear-gas canister into the house.
London police went on Tuesday to a home at 48 Kinnear Cres., northwest of Southdale and Wonderland roads, they planned to search as part of an investigation into two robberies in the last five weeks at a Westmount apartment building.
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But the occupants of the home refused to come out, leading to a six-hour standoff that ended after police smashed a front window and tossed in a tear-gas canister, prompting a man and woman to leave the home. Officers with their guns drawn stormed the house and arrested several people.
Among those arrested was Nicole Moyer, 38, who is charged with breaching a release condition. Moyer is on trial for manslaughter in the death of Scott Pate, 27, who was fatally shot on Ashland Avenue on Oct. 7, 2020.
The father of three ordered chicken wings at a nearby sports bar and then was shot in the back of the head at close range while sitting in a parked car, court head during the trial that began Oct. 16, 2023. His body was dumped onto the road.
Moyer and her two co-accused, Denny Doucet and Jason Sylvestre, pleaded not guilty and were freed on bail while the case works its way through the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The defence and Crown presented their closing submissions earlier this month and the case returns to court on June 11.
Moyer was appeared Thursday in court, where she was remanded into custody and scheduled to appear next on Friday. Her lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Court documents allege Moyer breached her release conditions that required her to reside at a Simcoe Street address.
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During Tuesday’s standoff, a woman could been seen yelling at police through the broken front window, saying the police warrant was “fake” and she wouldn’t come outside.
The daytime search that included tactical officers and a light-armoured vehicle was part of an investigation into two robberies and an assault at a Wonderland Road apartment building, police said.
Two men entered an apartment building in the 700-block of Wonderland Road, which is between Commissioners and Viscount roads, on March 3 and broke into a unit, where one pointed a sawed-off shotgun at an occupant and demanded money, police said. Nobody was injured and the intruders left without getting any money.
In an earlier incident at the same apartment, two people showed up at the building on Feb. 16 and went inside a unit containing two men, police said. The two suspects demanded money from one of the men. One of the suspects injured one of the men, police said.
Investigators used video surveillance to determine one person was involved in both incidents.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Joseph David Marghella, 48, earlier this month and released photographs of two other suspects, asking the public for help identifying them.
Marghella, one of the people arrested at the Kinnear Crescent home, is charged with robbery with violence or threats, armed robbery, breaking and entering and theft, disguise with intent and multiple gun-related offences.
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The second suspect, Charles Pinson, 33, was arrested Wednesday at a residence in the area of Wharncliffe Road North and Western Road and charged with the same offences as Marghella, police said.
A third suspect, Travis Simmonds, 36, turned himself in the same day and is charged with robbery with threats of violence, police said.
All three men appeared in court Thursday and were remanded into custody awaiting bail hearings.
Four of the people taken into custody following Tuesday’s standoff were wanted on outstanding arrest warrants. The others are charged with drug possession, possession of stolen property and failing to comply with a release order.
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