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Double murder trial opens with dramatic 911 calls

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 09/10/2012 12:58 PM | Last Modified: 09/10/2012 2:40 PM | Updates

A makeshift memorial for Matthew Reynolds and Tyler Hawula, victims of a deadly shooting in 2009. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

A Winnipeg court has heard the chaotic aftermath of a deadly shooting inside a city house party.

Two young men began their first-degree murder trial Monday by pleading not guilty. Their names can’t be published under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because they were 16 and 17 at the time of the December 2009 incident.

The Crown then began its month-long case by playing dramatic 911 calls made seconds after gunmen stormed inside the Elmwood home and opened fire.

Matthew Reynolds and Tyler Hawula, both 18, suffered fatal injuries. Kyle St. Germaine, 17, sustained injuries to his forearm and shoulder.

"There’s been a shooting, my son is dying. You gotta help," Hawula’s mother, Crystal, can be heard screaming to the 911 operator. "I’ve got two 18-year-old kids dying. You need to hurry."

The dispatcher tries to keep the hysterical woman composed throughout the five-minute calling, assuring her that police and paramedics are on the way to her home. Several other people can be heard in the background crying and screaming. Between 20 and 30 people were inside the duplex at the time of the shooting, according to police.

Police alleged the shooting happened after the two accused were told to leave the party after they became involved in an argument with other guests. They allegedly left, armed themselves with a shotgun and returned looking for revenge.

Hawula was shot in the abdomen, while Reynolds was hit in the chest. The accused fled on foot but were arrested in the area later that night. Police also located the suspected murder weapon in a bush and say it had been stolen out of a pickup truck in Gladstone, Manitoba earlier that year.

www.mikeoncrime.com