The father of a man killed during a daylight shooting in a quiet Toronto neighbourhood has identified him as 35-year-old Sukh Deo, a reputed gangster from Vancouver’s Lower Mainland.
Toronto police have not yet identified Deo as the shooting victim but said a man was shot at close range through the driver’s side window of a luxury SUV in an alley on Cowbell Lane, near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, just before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Parminder Singh Deo spoke to Global News by phone Wednesday and confirmed his son was fatally shot in Toronto Tuesday.
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“We don’t have anything, we don’t know anything,” Deo said. “We just arrived here, so we don’t know anything yet.”
Sukh Deo made headlines in May when he was escorted out of his courtside seat at a Toronto Raptors playoff game for heckling referees.
Several members of the Deo family, including Sukh, were well-known to police in Metro Vancouver. His brother Harjit Singh Deo was convicted in 2007 for a 2005 kidnapping for ransom in which the victim was held inside the Deo family home in New Westminster.
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Parminder Singh Deo is also wanted in an Interpol warrant from India with charges including narcotic drug smuggling, forgery, thefts, and criminal conspiracy.
In Toronto, police and nearby residents were shocked by the shooting.
“I was outside and we heard this loud, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’” said Jessie Leamon, who works in the area. “That’s where everyone in the office walks through so it’s scary.”
READ MORE: Deadly shooting in Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton neighbourhood, police seek 2 suspects
Two male suspects considered armed and dangerous were allegedly seen fleeing the area in a black car, with one spotted wearing a green construction vest and the other an orange construction vest.
“We will find out who you are and you will be arrested,” 53 Division Unit Commander Supt. Reuben Stroble said of the suspects. “Get a lawyer, turn yourself in.”
Investigators are speaking to witnesses and looking at surveillance footage in the area in an attempt to identify the suspects.
With files from Caryn Lieberman and John Daly
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