Man Who Killed Two In Random Nightclub Shootings Sentenced To Life In Prison

He was on the run for a decade.

He committed unspeakable violence on a woman he once loved and on innocent victims of a popular Toronto restaurant. 

And he was featured numerous times on America’s Most Wanted.

But now Dudley Forbes has finally received justice.

The man who shot up a nightclub in an effort to get revenge on his former girlfriend was sent to jail for life with no parole for 15 years on Wednesday.

The 44-year-old pled guilty to killing two people and attempting to murder his former girlfriend, Lorna Graham, at the Whip Burger on Lawrence Ave. in 1994.

When she had enough of Forbes’ abuse, she finally found the courage to leave him. But he refused to let her go, even after he stabbed her 13 times with a butcher knife in the early 1990s.

That same violent anger that had marked their relationship continued to build inside the estranged man, until it exploded again on September 17th, 1994.  

An armed Forbes showed up at the crowded club around 3am, looking to take Graham back by force. When she refused to go with him, he pulled out a gun and began firing indiscriminately throughout the room.

Six people were hit in the random shooting and two died.

Forbes then went on the run and his former lover lived in fear for years that we would return and finish the job.

But it didn’t happen.

Authorities finally caught up with him hiding out in Jamaica in 2004. He was extradited to Toronto and in a surprise move, decided to plead guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.

It was a stunning surprise to his legal team, which never even had the chance to mount a defence.

The Crown believes that’s because Forbes realized the evidence against him was so strong.

“It was an unusual trial in the sense that, when you consider the amount of time that’s passed and witnesses were so cooperative and so strong and were willing after 12 years to testify,” agrees Crown attorney Lori Hamilton.

Now more than a decade after the crime, those who were affected by it most are breathing sighs of relief that the man who terrorized them will be off the streets for good.

“He’s damaged a lot of people’s lives and he should pay back with his own,” a still angry Graham denounces.

Though he’s never likely to get out of prison, she’s asked that her identity be disguised because she still lives in fear of her former lover. She was one of several people who remained in witness protection until Forbes was finally caught.

Police are still outraged by what he did that day.

“Just to walk in there and just fire indiscriminately into a crowd, without any concern whatsoever as to who he’s going to hit, just because he’s got one intended target,” condemns Staff Sgt. Rolf Prisor.

Authorities remain baffled by how their man eluded them for so long. It’s been revealed Forbes would regularly sneak back into Canada in the summer to attend the Caribana festivities, even as a Canada-wide warrant was out for his arrest.

Graham hopes the trial and the sentence resonates with others who have walked in her shoes.

“I do hope this sends some kind of message to all the abused women who are out there,” she relates as she exited the courtroom on Wednesday. “There is hope, even after many years, of praying to God to see this day and I’m glad I lived to see this day.

“There is help out there, so reach out for help and stand by.”

Forbes had been on Toronto Police’s Most Wanted List for over 10 years. To see who else is on there, click here.