Lawyer shot in the Annex worked on major marijuana case

A criminal lawyer and a gunman were seriously injured in a shooting in the Annex on Tuesday afternoon.

The lawyer, J. Randall Barrs, represented farmers who ran a marijuana grow-op in a former Molson brewery in Barrie, The Canadian Press reported. The bust of the farm was one of the largest in the country to this day. The men were sentenced to two to five years behind bars.

Tuesday’s shooting happened just after 3:30 p.m. as Barrs, 66, was leaving his law office on Bedford Road, near Bloor and St. George streets.

A witness told CityNews a man in a Honda Civic pulled up to the driveway and shot at Barrs five times, hitting him in the legs.

“Blood everywhere as you can see. There’s a trail of blood,” said Peter Schilling, who works in the building across the street.

Schilling said the shooter, who was dressed in a construction vest, jumped back in his car and then again shot at Barrs as the lawyer was crawling to his office. Within seconds, police were on the scene and blocked the suspect from leaving.

“A plainclothes policeman with a backpack jumped out of literally nowhere, pulled a weapon out of his backpack and returned fire,” Schilling said.

“The feeling you got was somebody expected this to go down.”

The province’s Special Investigations Unit, which was called in to probe the case, said Halton Regional Police officers were conducting surveillance in the area and one of them shot the gunman.

The gunman was shot by a plainclothes officer. He underwent surgery in hospital and is in serious condition.

A source told CityNews the suspect goes by the name Grayson Delong, 51. He is due in court on Oct. 18 in connection to another incident.

Barrs was taken to another hospital and is recovering from gunshot wounds to his legs.