Life sentence for gunman who hunted down, killed Oshawa parents he blamed for neighbour dispute - Toronto Star

“No child should experience the trauma these boys did, all because of the actions of Mark Gordon.”

Oshawa parents Andrieana and Pat Montgomery, both 42, were shot and killed by Andrieana’s downstairs neighbour Mark Gordon on July 13, 2024.

Patrick Montgomery’s 12-year-old son was playing a video game when, through the window, he saw a man pull a gun on his father outside.

He heard his dad say, “Please, don’t” before he saw Mark Gordon shoot Montgomery several times before fleeing. Just before he got into his truck, Gordon turned to look at the boy, who put his hands up, believing he was going to be next.

The boy and his 10-year-old brother rushed outside on Glenforest Street in Oshawa, crying as their father bled out. The older boy told responding officers that Gordon was his mother’s downstairs neighbour and they needed to go help her.

Just a few minutes after shooting Patrick in the middle of the day on July 13, 2024, Gordon drove to the nearby home of Montgomery’s ex-wife, Andrieana Montgomery. He fatally shot her while she stood at her kitchen sink with his legally-owned Glock, leaving the couple’s young sons as orphans.

The 33-year-old killer was originally charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. On Tuesday, Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst sentenced him to an automatic sentence of life imprisonment, with no eligibility to apply for parole for 21 years, for the “brutal” killings that shocked the residential Oshawa neighbourhood. Sentences for murder cannot be served consecutively.

Gordon shot Patrick Montgomery a total of nine times; and Andrieana four times.

He had become fixated on Andrieana Montgomery, his upstairs neighbour, with whom he’d had a tense relationship. Each complained about the noise coming from the other’s unit. During one argument in the winter of 2023, Gordon told her that he had a gun, a revelation that left Andrieana Montgomery feeling threatened. She told her landlord, family and friends about it.

“She told her children that he was not nice, and not to trust him,” Fuerst wrote. “She was afraid of him.”

Andrieana Montgomery ended up reporting that Gordon’s basement unit didn’t meet legal requirements, which was affirmed by the City of Oshawa. Rather than address the violations, their shared landlord decided to evict Gordon and his partner and young son, serving them with the notice the day before the killings.

Gordon had also been told by Patrick Montgomery a few days earlier that his ex-wife was moving out of the building. Gordon was quoted as saying in a pre-sentence report that he felt “bullied” by Andrienana Montgomery, and that even though she was moving out, “she was still screwing me over.” He described the eviction as the “last straw” for him.

“I wish to be clear that any difficulties between Mr. Gordon and Ms. Montgomery, or in Mr. Gordon’s dealings with Mr. Montgomery, do not mitigate the gravity of the offences or Mr. Gordon’s blameworthiness for them,” Fuerst said.

Mark Gordon, 30, of Oshawa, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Gordon apparently knew both victims, but the motive is still