The person accused of randomly attacking and killing a man on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus is in custody, both the university and police have confirmed, after an urgent appeal for information.
On Thursday morning, Toronto police were alerted to the discovery of a body on the university’s College Street campus.
That body, officers said on Friday, was an unhoused man who was lying on a bench and was allegedly attacked, unprovoked, by a suspect using “debris.”
Det.-Sgt. Trevor Grieve, with the homicide unit, told reporters that the victim is 60-year-old Mario Ferreira.
Grieve said police have reviewed good-quality surveillance video that shows Ferreira lying down on a bench on the University of Toronto campus grounds.
He said the suspect appeared to be walking nearby and “at some point, he arms himself with debris.”
“Whether or not that comes from a construction site or a dumpster in the area, that’s still to be determined, but he does arm himself with some debris and leaves that area,” Grieve said.
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Without provocation, Grieve said the suspect allegedly approaches Ferreira and “uses that debris to assault him repeatedly and violently.”
“From what I can see on the surveillance, I do not see any sort of altercation that occurs between the victim and the suspect. And I am treating this as a completely random incident,” Grieve said.
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Police were first called to the area at around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, but Grieve said a member of the public found the victim and alerted campus security who then called police. According to surveillance footage, the incident occurred a few hours before at 5:20 a.m.
Grieve said Ferreira was on the bench for “several hours” and “the victim is either lying down or sleeping at that point in time.”
An autopsy was conducted and Grieve said the cause of death appeared to be blunt force trauma to his upper body.
Ferreira was not a student or employee of the university, police said.
Investigators have released images of the suspect wanted in connection with the homicide on Friday morning and asked anyone with information to help.
“I can’t say this with enough vigor, the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous,” Grieve said.
A few hours later, on Friday, University of Toronto students received an update telling them the suspect was in custody.
“Toronto Police Service confirms that suspect in TPS Homicide investigation is now in custody,” the alert read. “Thank you to our community members for your attention in this matter.”
Shortly after, Toronto police confirmed that 31-year-old Adimabua Chukwuka had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
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