Surveillance video and phone records pointed police to third suspect in Ali Mohummad murder

When Det. Daryl Reid arrived at the parking lot of 310 Limeridge Rd. W. on the morning of July 19, 2020, he found a chaotic scene: smashed cars, blood, broken pieces of wood and other discarded items.

Across the road, near a fence behind an apartment building at 11 Kendale Ct. was the stabbed body of 19-year-old Ali Mohummad. That morning Hamilton police homicide detectives knew that Mohummad had travelled from Mississauga the night before, along with friends, to join his brother Hamza Chaudry, who was having an issue with a couple of teens.

When the two sides met in the Limeridge parking lot, violence exploded, with people stabbed, hit by cars and Mohummad dead. Chaudry and friends say they thought they were going to talk out the issue but were ambushed, court has heard.

Back at the start of the investigation, Reid and the homicide team had a lot of work ahead of them. First there was the scene itself - it was large, with blood and other evidence everywhere. A storm was rolling in and police had to tell forensic officers which evidence to prioritize. Reid told court Thursday the decision was made to prioritize the vehicles, including Chaudry's smashed blue Mustang and other vehicles smeared in blood.

Police were quickly given the names, pictures and a Snapchat video of the two teens at the centre of the conflict with Chaudry. That pair - both 17 at the time - were soon arrested and, last year, were convicted of manslaughter for organizing and participating the ambush.

But the work to identify others at the melee was more complicated, Reid explained Thursday at the trial of a third young man who was also 17 at the time of the homicide. He cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Court has already heard from a patrol officer who took down the names, phone numbers and addresses of two teens seen walking near the crime scene. One belonged to the teen now on trial who lived in a unit at 11 Kendale Ct.

At first, there was no reason to suspect the teen was involved, but Reid said a witness named him as someone captured on surveillance video outside the apartment building around the time of stabbing. He pulled up the teen's driver's licence picture and began going through video looking for a match. Reid spent days combing through video and trying to match names found in the contact information of phones seized by police.

The Crown theory is that it is the young man now on trial captured on surveillance video from the apartment and in a cellphone video taken during the ambush that allegedly shows Ali Mohummad running for his life. The prosecution is arguing he is one of two people chasing Mohummad.

The video evidence led police to arrest the third teen at his apartment May 12, 2021, and charge him with second-degree murder.

The court saw cellphone records for the youth that showed he and one of the young men convicted of manslaughter were connected on Instagram, but there was no record of them communicating by phone. However, the two did have mutual friends saved in their contacts. This includes calls from two of the same numbers around the time of the parking lot ambush. Cell tower data also puts the third teen in the area of 11 Kendale at the time.

The trial continues Monday when Reid is expected to take the court through surveillance video near the scene.

Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com