American ‘peacemaker’ shot after intervening in downtown Windsor fight: Jury learns

An American witness took the stand in the trial of two Essex County men accused in a downtown shooting. Michelle Maluske reports.

An American ‘peacemaker’ was shot after intervening in a downtown Windsor fight, the jury learned in court on Tuesday.

Silbert Caron, 26, and Ezechiel Thompson, 23, both from Leamington have pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including assault and firing a handgun.

On May 13, 2023, a Detroit man was shot in the foot out front of an Ouellette Avenue nightclub.

Shooting after a fight

The victim told the jury Tuesday he tried to help his friend who was involved in a fight on the sidewalk around two a.m.

“He had multiple people kicking him while he was on the ground,” the man testified.

The victim recalls trying to stop the fight and may have “body slammed” one of them to the ground, before he noticed “a firearm was raised at me.”

“They said they were going to blow my brains out,” the victim told the jury.

“He was just trying to be a peacemaker,” Assistant Crown Attorney Emile Carrington said during his opening statement Tuesday.

Thompson ran away after the shooting and he was arrested until two days after shooting, having been identified through video surveillance.

The jury has also learned Caron wasn’t arrested until November 2023, seven months after the shooting.

Carrington told the jury Caron admitted to police he was “very intoxicated” on May 13, and he assaulted the victim.

Accused charged with assault

The prosecution alleges the victim was first struck in the head with a gun by Thompson before he was shot. The crown believes Thompson is the shooter.

They further allege Caron kicked the victim in the head, after he was shot and laying on the sidewalk.

The victim suffered a survivable gunshot wound to his left foot which required six surgeries to fix and heal.

A white limousine

The crown says Caron was out celebrating his birthday with friends in Downtown Windsor that evening.

The group rented a white limousine to drive them into the city from Essex County.

The crown says they will show the jury surveillance video of Thompson exiting the limousine before shooting the victim. He fled the scene on foot, the jury has learned.

After the shooting, Windsor Police executed a “high risk takedown” of the limousine at Erie Street and Ouellette Avenue.

Two other passengers in the limousine have since been charged and pleaded guilty to being in a motor vehicle knowing there was a loaded firearm inside.

The limousine driver and a fourth passenger were released without charges.

The jury was released early Tuesday afternoon because of legal arguments in their absence.

The media is prohibited from reporting any evidence or arguments the jury did not hear.