Malique Calloo, 30, who admitted to shooting Daniel Squalls 15 times outside a Hanna Street home in Windsor, is asking a judge to spare him federal prison. His lawyer argued Wednesday for an eight-year sentence, citing a bounty on Calloo's head, jail overcrowding, alleged vigilantism, and anti-Black racism. Sentencing credits for time served could leave Calloo with less than two years remaining.
Defence argues for eight-year sentence
Defence lawyer Adam Weisberg told Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia that eight years would be “a just sentence” for Calloo, who was found guilty of manslaughter in April for the 2022 shooting death of Daniel Squalls, 24. The Crown, however, argued for a penitentiary sentence of 12 to 15 years, calling the location of the mid-afternoon shooting “extremely aggravating.”
“Honestly, I can’t think of any more aggravating place to commit a shooting than across from a daycare,” said assistant Crown attorney George Spartinos. “The daycare had to go on lockdown. I’ve never heard of that (before) in this city.”
Details of the shooting
At the three-week trial’s opening in March, Calloo’s defence conceded he had shot and killed Squalls in a hail of 15 bullets outside his home in the 800 block of Hanna Street on the afternoon of Nov. 28, 2022. But Weisberg told jurors that Calloo had done so “in the heat of passion” after being provoked by Squalls and that he should be found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.
Court heard both Calloo and Squalls shared young daughters with the same woman and had a history of bad blood. During the trial, Calloo maintained he had driven to the woman’s residence on Hanna Street on Nov. 28 with the intention of picking up his daughter, because he had caught wind of a plan by the woman and Squalls to move to the U.S. with the young girl.
Flight and arrest
Following the shooting, Calloo fled to the U.S. and was added in 2023 to the Be On the Look Out (Bolo) program’s Top 25 list for Canada’s most wanted criminal suspects. He was arrested in Michigan by the United States Marshals Service on July 23, 2023, and originally charged with first-degree murder before being extradited to Canada.
“Mr. Calloo is not safe there,” Weisberg argued, referring to the alleged bounty on his head. He noted that Calloo, 26 at the time, fit the profile of a “youthful first offender with significant rehabilitative potential.”
Sentencing considerations
Weisberg argued Calloo should be sentenced to the lowest typical range for manslaughter with a firearm of six-to-eight years. Aggravating factors, including the 15 gunshots, the location and time of the shooting and Calloo’s flight from Canada, should put Calloo in “the very top of the bottom rung” for manslaughter cases, Weisberg said.
Manslaughter with a firearm comes with a minimum prison sentence of four years, according to the Criminal Code of Canada. The maximum sentence for manslaughter with a firearm is imprisonment for life. As of Wednesday, Calloo had spent 1,082 days in custody, which included 31 days in detention in Michigan prior to his extradition back to Canada.
