'GLAD YOU SHOT THE GUY': Premier congratulates homeowner for shooting alleged intruder
· Toronto Sun
Kill ’em all, let God sort ’em out?
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When the premier publicly congratulates a legal gun owner for shooting an alleged home invader with a violent criminal history, it’s clear society has lost faith in our lax justice system and devolved to adopt a sort of scorched-earth mentality.
“Congratulations for shooting this guy – should have shot him a couple more times, as far as I’m concerned,” Doug Ford said at a news conference Wednesday when asked about the latest high-profile home invasion in Vaughan.
When the courts refuse to protect citizens, citizens are forced to protect themselves. And the premier – whose home was targeted by carjackers last spring – hasn’t shied away from supporting victims of crime who made headlines for fighting back.
“Yeah, I’m glad you shot the guy,” Ford said, adding the person who opened fire on an intruder early Tuesday “was defending his family” and he hoped the shooting teaches other robbers a lesson.
“These guys, they need to be shot, as far as I’m concerned. They’re coming through the front door to hurt your family.”
Occupants ‘not physically harmed,’ police say
York Regional Police said officers responded to a shooting at a residence in the Carrville Woods Circle-Crimson Forest Dr. area – near Dufferin St. and Rutherford Rd. – around 12:50 a.m.
“When they arrived at the scene, police learned multiple suspects, armed with at least one firearm, forced their way into the residence,” police said in a statement released. “An occupant of the home accessed a legally owned and properly stored firearm and discharged it toward the suspects, causing them to flee.”
Doorbell camera footage released by investigators captured three masked bandits hopping into an awaiting black pickup truck, with a fourth person behind the wheel, and driving off before police arrived.
“The occupants of the home were not physically injured,” police said.
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No charges laid against resident defending home
Unlike other incidents in the province in recent years where victims have ended up facing criminal charges for defending themselves – for example, a Peterborough store clerk disarming a crook of his bat and beating him with it or a Lindsay man stabbing an intruder in his home who was armed with a crossbow – police quickly decided in this case that there was no evidence to lay charges against the resident who opened fire.
A few hours after the Vaughan home invasion, police said they were notified that a male turned up at a Toronto hospital suffering from a gunshot wound.
“Investigators determined he had been shot during the home invasion and was dropped off shortly after it occurred,” police said.
The injured man, who remained in hospital Wednesday in stable condition, was subsequently identified by police as Trestin Cassanova-Alman, of no fixed address. Celebrating his 25 th birthday in police custody on Thursday, he’s now charged with robbery with a firearm and wearing a disguise with intent in relation to the home invasion.
“He is also charged with breach of a probation order, as he was on an outstanding probation order for unrelated offences at the time of the home invasion,” police said, adding the three others are still being sought for the home invasion.
Cops said Cassanova-Alman was “known to police” and “wanted by multiple police agencies, including York Regional Police, for numerous violent offences.”
Wanted in Project Wrangler since December
In December, Cassanova-Alman was identified as a suspect in relation to Project Wrangler – a joint-forces operation that dismantled an allegedly violent criminal group operating in Ontario and Quebec.
That year-long investigation led to 13 arrests on 150 charges – and at least half of the accused were on some form of custodial release condition at the time of their arrest.
Cassanova-Alman was wanted on multiple charges, including instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to commit indictable offences, possession of property obtained by crime, breach of probation, robbery with violence, participation in a criminal organization and conspiracy to commit murder.
When York police released details of Project Wrangler, they said dozens of communities had been terrorized by crimes that allegedly included murder, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, armed carjackings, armed robberies and armed home invasions.
These crimes allegedly occurred between April 15, 2024, and March 20, 2025 – at a time when Cassanova-Alman had recently been released from prison, according to court documents, and was expected to be turning his life around, perhaps pursuing his goal of working in construction.
Crime spree led to previous conviction
He was imprisoned, according to court documents, after he and an accomplice burst into a Mississauga drug store while wearing masks, hopped the counter, intimidated pharmacy staff, demanded cash and stuffed a gym bag full of narcotics before taking off in a stolen car on July 24, 2020.
A tracking device had previously been attached to that vehicle as part of a “broader investigation,” court documents show, so cops managed to follow the Nissan Altima to the underground parking garage of a condo complex in Mississauga.
Cops closed in and one tactical officer fired three shots at the Nissan, but documents said Cassanova-Alman and his accomplice had already jumped out and ran off.
As Cassanova-Alman approached a Honda Civic, a civilian occupant of that vehicle opened fire and he was struck in the cheek. The documents said h e eventually made his way outside, where he forced a man and his children to exit their pickup truck, then he drove off – unaware one of the man’s kids, an eight-year-old girl, was still in the backseat.
The documents said Cassanova-Alman raced through the city, running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road while reaching speeds of about 120 km/h. But he stopped briefly to let the girl out once he realized she was in the truck.
Cassanova-Alman evaded police, the documents said, but surrendered to cops three months later.
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‘Reasonable prospects of rehabilitation’
At his trial, he tried to claim he had only fled from authorities because “as a young Black male he fears interactions with the police.”
But Ontario Superior Court Justice Fletcher Dawson didn’t buy that excuse.
When Cassanova-Alman ultimately pleaded guilty to robbery, disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of a stolen vehicle – after his accomplice had pleaded guilty and was expected to testify against him – the judge said, “Deterrence and denunciation must be given considerable weight in determining an appropriate sentence in these circumstances.”
However, the convict’s age, then 19, was taken into account when the judge sentenced him.
“The overall sentence must not be crushing,” Dawson said in his ruling. “I conclude that must be determined having regard to the accused’s youthfulness and reasonable prospects for rehabilitation.”
Cassanova-Alman was sentenced on March 3, 2023, to four years in prison. But after receiving time-and-a-half for his pre-sentence custody – calculated to be three years, six months and six days – his remaining sentence amounted to five months and 24 days.
While commenting on Wednesday’s Vaughan home invasion, the premier said he believes “ruthless” criminals should “rot in jail for the rest of their lives.
“We have some great judges, but we have some really weak-kneed judges letting these criminals out on bail not once, not twice, four or five times,” he said. “‘OK, Johnny, go out and break into the next house.'”