Convicted killer Shakeil Wheatle received another life sentence Thursday after admitting he fatally shot an unarmed and defenceless stranger who was out walking his dog.

Marvin Engelbrecht was killed around midnight on Oct. 29, 2012, after Wheatle and another unknown gunman jumped out of a car and chased him down a street in Lawrence Heights, ending the 24-year-old’s life in a hail of bullets. At least eight shots were fired.

Wheatle pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month on the eve of a six-week first-degree murder trial.

Superior Court Justice John McMahon on Thursday agreed to a joint submission that Wheatle’s parole eligibility be set at fourteen years to run concurrently with the 25-year eligibility period he received in January after he was found guilty of first-degree murder in a separate killing.

“This is yet another case of gun violence taking the life of a completely innocent young man. Another grieving mother, another family destroyed, all because of the proliferation and use of handguns in this city,” McMahon said Thursday.

Engelbrecht “died not for who he was or what he did, or any interaction because Mr. Wheatle did not know him. He was selected randomly because of where he lived.”

On July 19, 2012, three months before he killed Engelbrecht, Wheatle was one of three men who shot 27-year-old Daniel Davis to death as he hung out with friends behind a Flemington Park elementary school, not far from where Engelbrecht was ambushed.

In 2012, these and other shootings prompted Toronto police to start a special project called Sugarhorse. Investigators recruited a lifelong drug dealer to wear a hidden recording device to capture suspects in the unsolved crime wave. Wheatle fell for an elaborate ruse and acknowledged committing the murders, which he described for the police agent.

While being secretly recorded, Wheatle told the agent somebody from Lawrence Heights had to pay for stealing drugs intended for a jailed associate from his Jane St. neighbourhood.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, McMahon noted Wheatle was only 18 when he killed both men. His young age and guilty plea are “extreme” mitigating factors, which the judge said he took into account when deciding the appropriate sentence.

There were challenges to the Crown’s case, prosecutor Phil Tsui acknowledged in court.

On Thursday, Toronto police Det. John Margetson credited the solving of the Davis and Engelbrecht homicides, in addition to another murder, to the agent’s “bravery.”

“He is really serving is own life sentence,” Margetson said. “He’s got to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life. He realizes that and he accepted it and he did a great job.”

It was clear by the victim impact statements read in court that Engelbrecht was much adored, admired and missed by his family and friends.

“I have been left with a void that will always be there no matter what,” his mother, Semon Engelbrecht, told court, fighting to maintain her composure. “I will never be the same. Nothing will ever be the same. It’s one less hug, one less kiss, one less place to set at the table now. One less ‘I love you.’”

Anthony Engelbrecht, holding a framed photo of his brother, called his killer by name.

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“Shakeil Wheatle has made my family’s life hell over the past six years,” he said. “No one will ever be able to fully understand the depths of the pain I feel every day when I think of what was taken from me, from us.”

Wheatle’s lawyer, Gabriel Gross-Stein, offered an apology to the Engelbrecht family on behalf of his client. The judge suggested it might have more meaning if it came from Wheatle himself — but he declined the opportunity.