BEST FRIEND SET HIM UP TO DIE

An innocent Mississauga man who was shot and killed in a botched robbery
was set up by his best friend, a Toronto court heard yesterday.

Matthew Scott, 27, apologized in court yesterday to the family of
Mississauga's Donald Rawluck, a 24-year-old father of a three-year-old boy,
for tricking him into getting involved in a purchase of illegal guns that
turned into a fatal shoot-out with a pair of would-be thieves.

Scott had scraped together $8,000, borrowing money from friends, and set up
a deal to buy four guns in a transaction that was supposed to take place on
the evening of Sept. 16, 2005, in an Etobicoke neighbourhood already
plagued by gun-related crime.

Scott's mother was a crack addict, and she had run up a sizable debt. To
settle up, Scott was told to hide four guns for drug dealers, which is a
common practice in Toronto's underworld.

But in Scott's case, the Toronto court heard yesterday, somebody tipped the
police he was hiding the weapons and the police seized the guns and charged
Scott.

The drug dealers didn't care. They wanted replacement weapons, and leaned
on Scott to get them.

On the evening the deal was to go down, Scott was at a bar with long-time
friend Rawluck, a muscular one-time boxer who was celebrating his promotion
at a Mississauga tire company.

Scott wanted Rawluck to go along with him that evening, presumably as
backup, but never told Rawluck he was going to buy guns.

Instead, Scott told his friend that he had too much to drink and needed him
to be the designated driver that Friday evening.

So Rawluck drove Scott's BMW as they headed off to meet the man who was
selling the guns.

When Rawluck and Scott arrived for the meeting, Joseph Santos climbed into
the back seat, according to an agreed statement of facts read out in court
by prosecutor Lorraine Cavion.

Santos, 25, had a confederate in the setup, 26-year-old Shane James, who
suddenly appeared at the side of the car and stuck a gun in Rawluck's face.

Scott, suspicious of Santos, had brought a gun along for protection. He
took it out and started firing.

At least a dozen shots rang out that evening, missing a mother and her
young son standing nearby.

Scott was quicker on the trigger than either Santos or James. He shot
Santos in the head and chest, killing him. He plugged James in the chest,
who staggered away, dropping his gun. He died later in hospital.

As for Rawluck, the only innocent man in the group, he died after Santos
shot him in the back of the head.

Rawluck, barely alive, tried to drive off, but crashed the car. Scott, who
wasn't hurt, ran away, leaving his friend.

In court yesterday, Scott apologized for first tricking his friend, and
then leaving the mortally-wounded man behind.

"I will never forgive myself for his death," said Scott, reading from a
prepared text. "He had so much to live for."

Originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder, he pleaded
guilty yesterday to reduced charges of two weapons offences because he
acted in self-defence in the shootout that night.

The two counts of second-degree murder were later reduced to one count each
of possession of restricted weapons and violating a court ban to never have
a firearm.

Whatever Scott's punishment, said Kristy Rawluck, the sister of the only
innocent victim in the shootout, it won't bring her brother back.

Despite his contrition, the prosecutor said Scott should go to prison for
15 years.

Scott will be sentenced next Thursday.