A former harm reduction worker has expressed regret for her role in helping a drug dealer escape after a deadly shooting in Toronto's Leslieville neighborhood that claimed the life of an innocent mother of two.
Emotional Courtroom Apology
As the parents of murder victim Karolina Huebner-Makurat watched from the courtroom, Khalila Mohammed, 26, told a jury she should never have assisted drug dealer Ahmed Ibrahim following the fatal gunfight. The shooting occurred on July 7, 2023 outside the South Riverdale safe injection site.
"What I did was a severe lack of judgment and I regret what I did," Mohammed said during cross-examination by defense lawyer Charn Gill. The soft-spoken former worker testified with little emotion, speaking as if reciting rehearsed lines.
The Fatal Confrontation
Damian Hudson, one of the dealers involved in the gun battle, has admitted firing the bullet that killed 44-year-old Huebner-Makurat but has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The court has seen security footage showing rival drug dealers Ibrahim and Ahmed Ali robbing Hudson of his satchel before the violent struggle escalated.
During the confrontation in the middle of a sunny July day, both Ali and Hudson pulled guns on each other. Huebner-Makurat, a married senior training manager for Air Canada, was walking to meet a friend for lunch on Queen St. E. when she was struck by a stray bullet. Ahmed Ali remains at large.
Complicated Relationships and Consequences
Mohammed is testifying for the prosecution after being convicted of being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter. She is currently serving a 17-month sentence of house arrest.
The court heard that Mohammed had been texting with both Ibrahim and Hudson before the shooting, as both rivals sold drugs outside the South Riverdale facility. When Hudson's texts became increasingly threatening - demanding she connect him with customers - she informed Ibrahim.
Hudson responded with a chilling warning: "Hang with the opps you gonna die with emm."
Despite describing her relationship with Ibrahim as merely "acquaintances" at the time, Mohammed was confronted with text messages showing she told "Ben" that she'd fallen for him just days before the shooting. After witnessing the gunfight, she brought the bleeding Ibrahim into the harm reduction center for treatment and then ordered him an Uber to escape.
She admitted to later hiding his clothes and lying to police as their relationship turned romantic.
Revealing Text Messages
Under cross-examination, Hudson's lawyer presented thousands of text messages exchanged between Mohammed and Ibrahim following the killing. The messages showed Mohammed advising Ibrahim to "get out of the city" and expressing that "I f—ing hate cops" after her first police interview.
Their affectionate exchanges included him calling her "Baby Girl" and her calling him "Babes" as they discussed how Ibrahim could avoid arrest and arrange romantic meetings at Airbnb locations.
Mohammed admitted providing Ibrahim with Percocets but repeatedly denied suggestions that she was dealing drugs on the side. Despite text messages showing she told Ibrahim she had 160 pills and could provide him with 50 for $200, with the message "Just know I don't spot anyone. You're definitely special," she maintained she simply had a prescription.
"I don't know why I said that," Mohammed testified when confronted with the message.
Gill challenged her directly: "I'm suggesting you said that because you're a drug dealer that sells Percocets."
"And that," she retorted, "is your suggestion."
Monitoring the Investigation
The text messages revealed Mohammed advised Ibrahim to lay low while she monitored news reports and checked camera angles to determine what footage police might obtain. "Deep breath, babe," she texted him. "I can't see s–t from that video. No faces."
In the days following the shooting that shocked the city, Mohammed complained to Ibrahim about attending "endless tearful meetings" at work. "Maybe I'm not a sensitive person but goddamn people are freaking," she wrote. "People are so sensitive."
Gill questioned her apparent callousness, demanding: "You knew at this point that someone had died, right? So you didn't understand how people could have feelings about an innocent person walking across the street losing their life?"
As the lawyer read through extensive text exchanges, Mohammed - and spectators in the gallery - grew increasingly impatient. "These messages are quite obvious," she said at the end of the long day in the witness box. "Do you have actual questions for me?"
Her cross-examination continues Thursday as the Toronto community still seeks justice for Karolina Huebner-Makurat, whose life was tragically cut short during an ordinary lunchtime walk.
