A Toronto jury has found the first person to face trial in the Boxing Day shooting death of Jane Creba guilty of second-degree murder.

The man, who can only be identified as J.S.R because he was a minor at the time of the shooting, has also been found guilty of two counts of aggravated assault and five weapons charges. He was found not guilty of an additional four counts of aggravated assault.

J.S.R, now 20 years old, was convicted Sunday by a panel of 11 jurists. He will be sentenced on Thursday.

The charges stem from a brief gunfight between two groups of young men on Dec. 26, 2005 in front of a Foot Locker store on Yonge Street, in the city's busy downtown core.

Creba, a 15-year-old innocent bystander who was in the area shopping with her family, was the only fatality in the shooting spree. Six other bystanders were shot, the court heard.

Since the trial began on October 16, the jury heard that J.S.R. was stopped by police at a subway station blocks from the shooting scene 40 minutes after the gunfight. A police officer testified that J.S.R. was in possession of a 9mm Ruger semi-automatic handgun.

Further testimony proved the gun was forensically linked to the scene but the Crown did not accuse J.S.R. of firing the shot that killed Creba.

However, under Canadian law, if the jury is convinced the accused took part in the gunfight, he or she can still be convicted of murder.

The defence, which chose not to present evidence, argued that J.S.R. was at the scene of the shooting but did not fire any shots. They argued that J.S.R. was merely given the weapon after the shooting by another person in the group.

Defence lawyer Gary Grill told reporters after the verdict was rendered that he would "obviously appeal" the decision.

"We've never, ever, ever had a stronger defence case," he said. "We maintain that our client is innocent and we won't stop fighting as far as we can go in order to make sure that everyone knows that he is innocent."

"I can't explain the jury's verdict. Most observers can't explain this jury's verdict," he continued. "This verdict is completely unreasonable and completely not supported by the evidence presented in this case."

He said his client was handling the jury's decision with "a lot of dignity."

Det. Sgt. Sava Kyriacou, the lead investigator in the case, told reporters he was pleased with the verdict.

"I knew what the right thing was and I knew that ultimately they would have come up with the right decision," he said outside the University Avenue courthouse.

The jury started deliberations Thursday at 11:30 a.m. and came back Friday night to ask Justice Ian Nordheimer a question about the case. They resumed deliberations Saturday and delivered their verdict Sunday shortly after noon.

Eight other people -- seven adults and one youth - will also face trial in the Boxing Day murder. They are all charged with either second-degree murder or manslaughter.

They are expected to face a jury next year.