James Forcillo and Sammy Yatim, armed with a knife, were too close together during a confrontation on a streetcar for the Toronto police officer to do anything but shoot the 18-year-old in self-defence, lawyer Peter Brauti told a jury today.



Forcillo's lawyer said his client, charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder, will testify so that the jury will come to understand the shooting of Yatim, who was struck by eight bullets in July 2013, was justified and in self-defence.



On Tuesday, the jury first heard from prosecutor Milan Rupic who said Forcillo should never have opened fire on Yatim, adding it wasn't "necessary or reasonable."

While Brauti said there is no dispute his client shot Yatim, the circumstances put Forcillo and a crowd gathered outside the streetcar at risk and action was required.



The Crown told the jury that Forcillo and his partner were the first to arrive at the streetcar after reports of a disturbance. Rupic said the two officers walked to the front of the streetcar with their weapons drawn, but Forcillo's partner holstered her gun before other officers arrived and "she used a calm voice and asked Yatim a question."



Forcillo demanded that Yatim "drop the knife," but the 18-year-old mocked the officers and called them "pussies," said Rupic.

Toronto teenager Sammy Yatim was shot after causing a disturbance aboard a Toronto streetcar in 2013. (Facebook/Canadian Press)



Forcillo told Yatim if he took a step forward he would be shot. Forcillo told Yatim if he took a step forward he would be shot.

Hit in the heart

The jury heard from the Crown that Forcillo's first three shots hit Yatim in the heart, severed his spine and fractured his right arm. He fell onto his back with the knife still clutched in his hand.



The Crown said "Yatim did not lunge forward ... and he was fatally wounded by one of the first three bullets."



Yatim never got up from the floor of the streetcar after the first round of shots, but "that was not the end of the shooting," Rupic said.



Five seconds later, Forcillo fired another half dozen times, including shots aimed at Yatim's abdomen, legs and penis, Rupic told the court.



Of the nine shots fired, eight hit Yatim. The interaction took less than a minute.

An officer who arrived after the second round of shots used a conducted energy weapon on Yatim and kicked the knife out of the teen's hand.



Rupic said Yatim was handcuffed and given medical attention but he was dead.



Brauti told jury members they'll hear Forcillo never wanted to use lethal force and that the teen ignored repeated requests to drop his weapon.