WATCH ABOVE: Gaps in security at Muzik nightclub have been highlighted by Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders. But critics say pulling paid duty officers from the venue is sending the wrong message to criminals. Catherine McDonald has more.
TORONTO — Toronto’s chief of police expressed disappointment with the lack of information investigators have received from the public in a shooting at Muzik nightclub that left two dead and three injured last week.
“An appeal for video and pictures from the patrons of the club has yielded very little,” said Police Chief Mark Saunders.
“Only a few of the thousands of people in the club and immediate area have contacted the homicide investigators.”
READ MORE: Paid-duty policing suspended at Muzik nightclub after deadly shooting
Saunders said the motive in the shooting is still being determined by police, but stressed the importance of the public’s assistance in these types of investigations.
“We’ve got thousands of people that were present and out of the thousands of people we don’t have that cooperation. Whenever we try to solve homicide cases it’s not just the law enforcement that makes these outcomes be successful,” he said.
“So when people do not assist with investigations, what it does is it encourages those who decide to bring firearms to locations to use it. Fear, for the people who carry firearms, the biggest fear is when people talk. And when you don’t talk it encourages these types of people to carry firearms with them.”
Duvel Hibbert, 23, of Brampton, and Ariela Navarro-Fenoy, 26, of Toronto were fatally shot last Tuesday morning at around 3:20 a.m. after gunfire erupted at the OVO Fest after-party hosted by Toronto rapper Drake.
Hibbert was pronounced dead inside the nightclub’s outdoor patio area while Navarro-Fenoy was shot north of the Dufferin Gates. She later died in hospital from her injuries.
READ MORE: ‘Taken away from us too soon’: Muzik nightclub shooting victim laid to rest
Three other people were injured during the gunfire, one from inside the nightclub, a second individual found just outside a fenced area near the venue, and a third victim located near Dufferin and College streets.
Saunders said Tuesday that both shooting locations have been connected forensically and that a woman injured in the shooting has since been released, while two men suffering “very serious injuries” still remain in hospital.
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He added that one of the men managed to make his way to the Dufferin and College streets where he sought out help from a passing ambulance. Saunders declined to comment on whether the men injured in the shooting who remain in hospital are cooperating with police.
READ MORE: Short fare taxi refusal blamed in death of Muzik nightclub shooting victim
“We have cases that get solved because people step up and they assist us and when they assist us we can make those arrests and we can make our city safer,” he said.
“It’s not just up to law enforcement, we need witnesses … and when that happens we have great outcomes.”
When asked if Saunders thought Drake could do more to encourage witnesses to come forward, Saunders said he was “not going to start picking on people.”
READ MORE: Crimestoppers tweets Drake to get help with controlling gun violence in Toronto
“There were thousands of people that were there, I want anyone who has anything to do with this investigation — who has any knowledge, or thinks they have knowledge, or if someone has spoken to them — I need them,” he said. “We’re appealing to them to come forward.”
Police made a public appeal for information and created a website for witnesses to post images or video related to the shootings.
“I’ve got some of the best investigators on this particular case to determine how those firearms got in,” Saunders said.
“I know the owner has been very cooperative with assisting the investigation and also taking steps to identify what the gaps could be to remedy [them] as well.”
Saunders added that investigators were also looking into the specifics of how firearms made it into the venue.
“With this particular incident there is obviously a gap because people have been shot,” he said. “There is a responsibility to investigate and look at what the gaps are and then to fix those gaps so that the public is safe and the police officers are safe as well too.”
Police announced Tuesday that they have suspended the practice of having paid-duty officers work at the Muzik nightclub in the wake of the shooting.
Saunders said that “good cooperation from witnesses” has helped investigators in a separate homicide investigation that occurred on Sunday at about 2:45 a.m., when 27-year old Kabil Abdulkhadir was shot and killed near the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel at 525 Bay St.
“When you look at our second investigation where we have a high level of cooperation, we’re moving the investigation in a much more rapid manner. It’s still not over yet, but the level of success is dynamically different,” he said, adding that investigators were still looking for Abdulkhadir’s associates who were with him at the time of the shooting and are asking them to contact police.
“With one case we have an absence of people coming forward and in the other we have people that have stepped up to the plate and exercised their due diligence.”
Saunders described the two suspects wanted in connection with the Muzik nightclub shooting investigation as:
- Male, black, 6’0″ to 6’1″, 25 to 26 years old with a fresh buzz cut, light purple crew neck sweater with a colourful design on the front and dark blue jeans. Wanted in connection with the shooting inside of the club.
- Male, brown, 5’10″to 5’11”, skinny build, 24 to 28 years old, wearing a yellow, burgundy plaid button-up shirt. Wanted in connection with the shooting near the Dufferin Gates.
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