WERE BOYS RECRUITED TO KILL FOR GANG?

CITY police are investigating the possibility a 38-year-old man was
shot dead as part of a gangland plot likely involving the drug trade,
police and other sources said Wednesday.

What's more worrying is the two 15-year-old boys charged with the
slaying of Thomas Roy Phillips may have been enlisted because of the
borderline chance of them being tried in adult court, the sources said.

A decision has not been made yet on trying the boys in adult court as
one of the boys remains on the loose. The other was arrested within a
day of the fatal shooting. Both face a charge of second-degree murder.

If tried as adults the boys face at minimum a 10-year sentence before
being eligible for parole. If tried as youths they face a much lesser
penalty. The age limit for presumption of adult sentences for serious
crimes is 14 under the YCJA.

Police sources said detectives are aware of what they called "the
rumour." They have no evidence yet to back it up.

Investigators also have unconfirmed information that Phillips'
killing may have been carried out by a relatively new inner-city street gang.

Phillips was shot in broad daylight March 26 as he sat in a Jeep
Grand Cherokee on Magnus Street near McGregor Avenue. Two hooded
people armed with handguns approached the side of the vehicle and opened fire.

Phillips was parked near a known drug house which was at the centre
of an unsolved gang shooting last year.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call detectives at
986-6508 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 786-8477.