Witness saw people in balaclavas arriving at bush party shooting

Josh Dickie was only 18 years old when he attended a bush bash party off of Pack Road in southwest London on July 30, 2021.

Dickie told the jury in a London courthouse on Monday that once he had arrived at the gathering, he witnessed a verbal altercation between his friend Isabella Restrepo and Emily Altmann, one of the accused in a fatal altercation that took place that night, "I saw an argument really just name calling from one person, Emily, she was yelling, she was loud."

Dickie said, "It ended with Emily walking away leaving the bush bash."

He testified that moments later as he was heading out from the party with some friends, he saw a white vehicle pull up, "The tires hit the curb. Two guys hopped out of the car and one of them asked Emily, 'Where are they?' as one of them pulled out a sword... he sounded angry."

London, Ont. police investigate a fatal shooting on Pack Road in the city's southwest corner on July 31, 2021. (Brent Lale/CTV London)

He said, "They were wearing all black head to toe, they were wearing balaclavas….It's not a normal thing to be coming to a party looking like that... I just connected it to the altercation."

Dickie told the jury that he tried to alert others like Restrepo about what he saw via text, "I tried to get her out, ‘there's guys here with weapons’...I had a bad feeling somebody was going to get hurt."

Moments later Josue Silva, 18, would be shot in the abdomen and rushed to hospital where he would be pronounced dead.

Within days of the incident Altmann, 22, and co-accused Carlos Guerra Guerra, 23, would be charged in connection with the case. They have both plead not guilty to second degree murder, and assault causing bodily harm.

Restrepo wrapped up her testimony in court earlier on Monday. Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Nathan Gorham, he suggested that she was not being truthful about how events unfolded on the night in question, she responded by saying, "I was not trying to deceive anybody... I did not try to fool the jury."

However, she did admit that she attempted to cyberbully some of the people at the party - which included Altman - by taking a video.

The trial along with continued testimony from Dickie resumes on Tuesday.