Man found guilty of murder in shooting that killed woman near Toronto consumption site
Written by The Canadian Press on December 19, 2025
TORONTO — A man accused in a Toronto shooting that cast a spotlight on supervised consumption sites has been found guilty of second-degree murder.
Damian Hudson was charged after a stray bullet struck and killed Karolina Huebner-Makurat near one of the sites in the city’s Leslieville neighbourhood in 2023.
At the time, police said the 44-year-old mother of two was shot as a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers outside the South Riverdale Community Health Centre.
The Ontario government ordered reviews of 17 consumption sites across the province in the wake of the shooting.
The government ultimately brought in legislation that banned consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or daycare, targeting 10 sites across the province.
Organizers for a Toronto site launched a Charter challenge of the law, and a judge granted an injunction to keep them open just before the ban took effect this spring.
However, most of the sites chose to convert to the province’s new abstinence-based model and closed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press