TORONTO – The suspect charged in the brazen daylight shooting death of 35-year-old John Raposo in Toronto’s Little Italy on Monday plans to plead not guilty.
26-year-old Dean Wiwchar appeared in a Toronto courtroom Friday morning on a charge of first-degree murder and will stay in custody pending his next court date on July 27.
His lawyer, Christopher Avery, suggested outside court that there are several differences between Wiwchar and the suspect description released by police, including height and hair colour. His client is “stunned” at the charge, Avery said.
“He’s very upset,” the lawyer said. “He’s shocked and he’s looking forward to his opportunity to plead not guilty and see what the evidence is against him. He has no idea why he’s been charged.”
He also says while Wiwchar has some ties to British Columbia – he has a girlfriend there and served time there behind bars – he is from Stouffville, Ont., and not B.C., as police said.
Wiwchar was arrested in downtown Toronto Thursday afternoon without incident.
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As many as 25 police officers were on hand for the arrest that was made near Gerrard and Parliament.
Eyewitness video showed the suspect being taken out of a taxi cab, handcuffed, and being led away into a police cruiser.
Wiwchar thought the takedown “was a little bit much for a guy in cab all by himself,” according to Avery, who said the suspect had been visiting his grandmother in a nursing home in Aurora, Ont., north of Toronto, earlier in the day.
At a press conference late Thursday evening, police said Wiwchar had multiple IDs with him at the time of his arrest.
Furthermore, Toronto Police said Wiwchar was not known to them, and that a number of items have been seized as “evidentiary value”.
Global News has learned that Wiwchar had been charged numerous times in British Columbia.
Wiwchar was under a 10-year firearm prohibition at the time of the shooting stemming from a February 2010 incident in Abbotsford, British Columbia when he was charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
The arrest comes as John Raposo’s visitation was held Thursday evening.
Monday’s shooting outside the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe took place as dozens of soccer fans gathered at the gelato shop to watch a European Championship game.
Autopsy results confirm Raposo died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Police say another man who was also injured in the incident wasn’t the gunman’s intended target and was just “in the general area” during the shooting. The victim is expected to survive.
Meanwhile, police say Raposo was “known to police” but would not elaborate.
Media reports suggest he may have had ties to organized crime but did not belong to a group himself.
At the time of the shooting, the suspect was disguised wearing a white hard hat, an orange safety vest with fluorescent green “X” on the front and back and had a white filter mask on his face.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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