The widow of a man fatally stabbed at a Toronto subway station says she is going to get a driver’s licence and avoid the TTC after her life was “shattered” by the news of her husband’s death in late June.
On June 26, 39-year-old Matthew Rumble was stabbed and killed at Jane Subway Station after an altercation on board a Toronto bus, police said.
His wife, who asked only to be identified as Stella K to maintain her privacy while grieving, said Rumble was a “loving father” and “a hard worker” who she never imagined would lose his life in a subway station stabbing.
The incident has left her heartbroken and fearful.
“I’m scared to take the TTC, I’m scared for my children to take the TTC,” she told Global News on Friday.
“I am going to force myself to go for my driver’s licence to make sure I can drive my kids around the city because we never know who can be next.”
Toronto police said the altercation that led to Rumble’s death began on a bus heading to Jane Subway Station. As Rumble and another man he was allegedly arguing with got off the bus in the bus bay area, they became involved in a physical fight, according to police.
Rumble was stabbed during the fight, police said. Paramedics took him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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“I thought it was a joke, I thought it was a lie, I thought it was not true,” Stella said, describing the moment detectives came to her house to deliver the news her husband would not return.
“Unfortunate to say, it’s real. And he can’t come back.”
She said the police who came to tell her the news shared very few details with her. Stella said she was told there was a fight and a stabbing but nothing else about what had happened.
Rumble, who worked as a chef at the restaurant Insomnia, had been planning to meet his son the next day, she said, after being forced to cancel on him the day he died.
On Friday, police identified and arrested two people they believe were responsible for the stabbing.
Twenty-two-year-old Tefai Silva Opoku-Boadu from Kitchener faces a second-degree murder charge, while Mackenzie Hargrave, 19, was charged with accessory after the fact to murder.
Opoku-Boadu appeared in court on Friday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance, set for July 12.
Stella said police called her about the arrests on Thursday night, leaving her conflicted.
“The call that I got last night from the police was happy and sad at the same time because I’m glad the suspects (have) been caught but it can’t bring him back,” she said.
“We need justice and there should be harsh punishment for those suspects that took away the life of my children.”
— with files from Global News’ Catherine McDonald