Anas Mujber exited a Range Rover and shot Emilio Jimenez three times at close range outside a downtown Ottawa strip club in the wee hours of April 18, 2019.
“That’s why we’re here today,” Crown Attorney Jon Fuller told a jury on Friday after showing them a homicide safety video.
“It was the end of Emilio Jimenez’s life.”
Jimenez did not die on the sidewalk outside the Barefax Gentleman’s Club, Fuller told the jury. The 25-year-old was pronounced dead an hour later in hospital after “unsuccessful” efforts to save him.
Mujber’s second degree murder trial began on Friday. The Edmonton man pleaded not guilty to the charge, but admitted to shooting Jimenez.
What remains for the jury to decide is not whether Mujber fired the gun, but his intention at the time.
“It will be about the choices Mr. Mujber made to arm himself and the choices he made to end Emilio’s life,” Fuller told them.
The court will hear witnesses working in Barefax that night, police officers who responded after gunfire and bystanders in the area when gunshots rang out, Fuller said.
Victim and accused both at the strip club
Jimenez was at the strip club with his friends that night and Mujber was there too, but with a different group.
Bouncers, a waitress and security footage will corroborate that the two groups got along well, Fuller told the jury, with no explosive interaction that led to the violence.
“You will see that everything was benign.”
It was until 2 a.m. when the two groups left the strip club.
Video footage will show Mujber leaving the club and sitting inside the parked Range Rover. Just six minutes later, Fuller said, Jimenez heads outside to join his friends who were hanging out with some of Mujber’s friends.
“At that point, a fight breaks out. Emilio is hit.”
As Jimenez tried to flee the attack, Mujber appeared between two parked cars, Fuller said. It shows up in seconds.
“That’s when Mr. Mujber opens fire.”
The accused fled while the victim was bleeding
Security video shows Mujber got back into the vehicle and fled, while Jimenez was bleeding on the ground.
Police officers who responded began chasing the Range Rover, eventually finding it abandoned while the occupants fled on foot, Fuller said, and then police chased and arrested Mujber.
The next morning, a Good Samaritan on his way to breakfast found a gun thrown on the grass along the route Mujber took to flee the scene.
Forensic testing revealed that the gun contained Mujber’s DNA and matching cartridge cases found at the scene, Fuller said.
“Listening and observing the evidence, ask yourself: Was Emilio a threat to Mr. Mujber? Was he a deadly threat? Did Mr. Mujber seem to know what he was doing? Did he make deliberate choices? Fuller told the jury.
Defense attorneys Mark Ertel and Sarah Ahsan represent Mujber in his ongoing trial.
