The teenager accused of killing two convenience store workers three years ago appeared in court Monday, where he came face-to-face with the family of one of the victims.

The accused, who cannot be named because he is a minor, pleaded not guilty to one charge of first-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to a number of other charges including manslaughter, disguise with intent and robbery with a prohibited restricted firearm.

The charges against the accused and two others stemmed from two violent attacks in different convenience stores days before Christmas 2015.

The agreed statement of facts presented Monday states police were called to the Mac’s Convenience Store on 32 Avenue and 82 Street at about 3:30 a.m. December 18, 2015, after an alarm notification. Officers arrived about 10 minutes later to find the lone employee, Karanpal Bhangu, suffering from a gunshot wound.

Bhangu, 35, was rushed to hospital, where he died. The robbery and shooting at that store turned out to be the first of two violent robberies that night.

Just before 3:45 a.m., police were called to another Mac’s store on 108 Street and 61 Avenue. There, employee Ricky Massin Cenabre, 41, was pronounced dead at the scene. He had also been shot.

Investigators determined both robberies were committed by the same three suspects. They were found in a stolen vehicle in a parking lot of another Mac’s convenience store in the area of 66 Avenue and 178 Street. After a brief chase, the suspect vehicle crashed into the base of an overpass over Whitemud Drive, under Terwillegar Drive.

All three accused were taken into custody. The teenager charged with manslaughter was 13 at the time.

Cenabre’s fiancée, Editha Alcazaren-Cenabre, their son John Cedric Cenabre and Editha’s niece, Faith Alcazaren, travelled from the Phillipines for the trial.

The Crown Prosecutor opened the trial with surveillance video of incidents inside the convenience stores.

Alcazaren-Cenabre had not seen the surveillance video before. She broke down and left the courtroom. 

“I don’t know how she will handle that, because I saw that the first time before and I can’t take it,” Faith Alcazaren said outside court.

“If they only just left my uncle there sitting, he would be alive today.”

Alcazaren said her aunt and Cenabre were planning their wedding for April, 2016, when Cenabre planned to return to the Philippines after five years in Canada. The couple had been together for 23 years when Cenabre was shot.

Cenabre had been working to support his family and was seeking permanent residency in Canada.

“As a family, we don’t know what to do,” John Cedric, now 18 years old, said. “He was too young to die,” Alcazaren said.

The teenager admitted to his role in the first shooting, but pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Cenabre’s death.

“I do understand he’s not the one who shot my uncle, but he’s there,” Alcazaren said. “Still murder for me.”

In June, the youth’s co-accused, Laylin Delorme, 27, was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery in an Edmonton courtroom.

The third individual accused in the attacks, Colton Steinhauer, is still awaiting trial.

With files from Dan Grummett