A Winnipeg man will spend at least a decade in prison for his role in a night of drug-stained bloodshed that claimed the life of a 49-year-old city woman and sent another woman and four men to hospital with gunshot wounds.
Martin Faruq Luther, 20, pleaded guilty last month to one count each of second-degree murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent.
Luther will return to court next spring, at which time Crown and defence lawyers are expected to recommend he be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 12 years. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Martin Faruq Luther, 20, pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent.
Luther entered his guilty pleas after confirming his involvement in the March 2023 shootings were accurately reflected in an agreed statement of facts read out in court.
The facts, as provided to court, laid bare the cold brutality of the city’s illegal drug trade and the lengths its players will go to maintain their grip on addicts.
Police found 49-year-old Lori Gordon shot dead and another woman gravely injured in a laneway behind the 400 block of Beverley Street on March 7 at about 6 a.m.
Hours earlier, six masked and armed males forced their way into a Wellington Avenue apartment suite and threatened three female occupants, including Gordon, over their “ties” to rival drug dealers.
“In order to redeem themselves in the eyes of the group, (the women) were ordered to participate in two separate missions to get blood from rival blood dealers,” said the agreed statement of facts.
Sometime later, Luther, a youth co-accused and an unidentified male, all armed with handguns, took one of the women to a Spence street apartment occupied by a rival drug dealer and had her knock on the door. The three males followed her inside and immediately opened fire on four males.
The victims — one of whom was shot in the face — were taken to hospital in unstable condition, police said at the time.
The attackers and the women returned to the Wellington Avenue apartment suite. A few hours later the males left with Gordon and another woman, bound for a Toronto Street drug house.
“The purpose of this mission was to meet up (with a gang rival) or his drug dealer and kill them,” said the agreed statement of facts.
Court heard the group was in the laneway between Beverley Street and Toronto Street when the three males “inexplicably and collectively” opened fire on Gordon and the second woman.
Gordon was found dead with gunshot wounds to her face and chest. The second woman was shot in the head and hand and spent two months in hospital.
Police recovered 11 shell casings from the scene, later confirmed as being shot from the same guns used in the first shooting.
“It is unknown whether Luther’s discharged firearm caused the death of Gordon or injuries to (the second woman),” said the agreed statement of facts.
Luther was identified as a suspect early in the police investigation, but remained at large until his arrest in Hanover on Sept. 26, 2023.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.