Const. James Forcillo fired in two volleys on the night of July 27, 2013, the Crown prosecutor said.

First, there were three shots. One bullet struck 18-year-old Sammy Yatim in the heart, causing fatal damage. Another severed his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the mid-chest down. The third fractured his upper right arm.

Five and a half seconds later, as Yatim lay on his back, still alive and still holding a four-inch switchblade on the floor of the empty Dundas West streetcar, Forcillo fired again.

Six shots: five hitting Yatim in his lower body, one grazing the sole of his shoe.

The stand-off between the two men — recorded on bystander video that shocked the public two years ago — took less than 50 seconds from the drawing of Forcillo’s police-issue Glock as he arrived at the scene, Crown prosecutor Milan Rupic said in his opening address at Forcillo’s trial.

Forcillo has pleaded not guilty to both charges he faces: second-degree murder and attempted murder.

“There will be no dispute in this trial as to who killed Sammy Yatim, when or where he was killed or how he was killed,” Rupic told the jury. “What you will have to decide in this case is whether it was necessary and reasonable for the defendant, James Forcillo, to shoot nine bullets at Yatim while he was inside an empty streetcar surrounded by armed police officers.”

The murder charge focuses on the first volley of shots fired; the attempted murder charge on the second volley, Rupic said.

The Crown will call evidence to show that Forcillo was trained by the Toronto police in several alternative approaches, including de-escalation techniques, and that he did not have to shoot Yatim, Rupic said

“An officer … is justified in using lethal force if he or she believes, and has reasonable grounds to believe, that lethal force is necessary for the officer for their own self-preservation or the preservation of others,” Rupic said.

The Crown will have to prove to the jury that Forcillo’s shooting was not justified. The defence intends to argue it was.

In an unusual move at the start of an unusual trial, the defence also delivered an opening address to the jury, to present the “other side of the story,” lawyer Peter Brauti said.

“From the time that Mr. Yatim saw the first police officer in this case, to his last few breaths, at no time did he ever appear interested in surrendering,” Brauti said in court. “He was in this for the fight all the way.”

Brauti told the jury Forcillo intends to testify and explain why he chose to repeat the command “Drop the knife,” and why he believed Yatim was a serious threat to his safety and the safety of members of the public standing near the streetcar.

According to the Crown, Yatim boarded the westbound streetcar at around 11:45 p.m from Dundas station.

Eleven minutes later, all the passengers fled the streetcar in terror after Yatim exposed himself, drew a knife and slashed at — but did not touch — a woman sitting opposite him at the back, Rupic told the court.

(According to the defence, the woman is expected to testify that if she had not jerked her head back, she might not be alive today.)

Rupic said witnesses will testify that Yatim could have stabbed passengers as they fled or stopped them from getting off, but did not do so. Before the TTC driver got off, Yatim asked him for a phone to call his dad, Rupic said.

Yatim was standing alone at the front, the four-inch knife in his hand, when police arrived, Rupic said. The autopsy report shows Yatim had “moderate to moderately high” levels of the drug ecstasy in his system at the time.

Forcillo and partner Const. Iris Fleckeisen, a 20-year veteran of the force, were the first to respond. They had received little information, only that there was a male with a knife on a streetcar and no one had been injured.

They both drew weapons as they approached, Rupic said, but Fleckeisen holstered hers before any others arrived.

Forcillo kept his gun out as he yelled a variation of three phrases at Yatim: “‘Drop the knife,’ ‘drop the f---ing knife,’ and ‘drop it,’” Rupic said. He was about 15 feet away.

Four officers began covering the streetcar’s front door: two, including Forcillo, with guns drawn, Rupic said. A fifth officer, also with gun drawn, was covering the rear door.

Yatim responded by calling the officers “pussies” in a mocking tone.

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Forcillo told Yatim that if he took another step, he would be shot.

Yatim appeared to take two steps forward to where he had been standing just moments before. Before he got there, Rupic said, Forcillo fired.

“Yatim was not lunging forward, he was not running, and he had not taken a single step down the stairs of the streetcar,” Rupic said.

When Yatim took a few steps back, it led Forcillo to think his commands to drop the knife were working, Brauti said. Forcillo asked his partner to call for an officer with a Taser.

He had also become concerned that someone else might be on the streetcar, perhaps trapped, injured or afraid to flee, Brauti said.

So, in a “more moderate tone,” Forcillo said something like: “You take one step in this direction and I’m going to shoot you, I am telling you right now.”

But Yatim did not appear to be calming down, Brauti said. “It looked like the calm before the storm, and knowing this, (Forcillo) warned Mr. Yatim again. ‘Don’t move.’ And then, to Officer’s Forcillo’s horror, he watched Mr. Yatim make the decision to come forward.”

Forcillo concluded, based on Yatim’s lack of fear, refusal to drop the knife, disregard for the order not to move, and angry “tough-guy” manner, he was going to start to fight, Brauti said. Forcillo also believed himself to be in the best position to shoot.

“He gave one last-ditch effort to resolve the situation by yelling out in desperation as Mr. Yatim came forward with the knife: ‘Drop it,’” Brauti said.

Yatim’s final word before he was shot was: “No,” Brauti said.

Forcillo feared for his safety because he knew Yatim could break into a run and cover the 10-foot distance between them in one or two seconds, Brauti said. So he fired three shots, the number he believed would safely stop the threat.

Then he assessed the situation for a few seconds, not knowing how many times Yatim had been struck or how badly he was wounded, Brauti said.

Forcillo will testify that he perceived Yatim to be getting up off the ground to continue his attack, knife in hand, Brauti said, although that is not what is shown in the TTC security video.

“There will be evidence that in extremely stressful situations people’s perceptions will often differ from reality,” Brauti told the jury. “I also anticipate that you will be instructed that those kinds of honest mistakes are treated with forgiveness by the law.”

The trial continues Wednesday with the Crown’s first witness.