Friends holding out hope for victim of attempted murder

Cheyanne Willigar says she’s been friends with one of the victims of the attempted murder case for nearly two years.

The 16-year-old found out her friend was one of those attacked in a brutal beating Monday afternoon.

She says her and her friends have had a hard time grasping the news.

“It makes me very angry, but also sad at the same time,” Willigar said. “I don’t understand why someone would do this to such a good person.”

Other friends of the victim in the April 9 attempted murder case, whose identity CKWS is keeping from the public because he is a minor, have been going to Facebook to discuss the details of the brutal attack and to show their support.

There is a GoFundMe page posted to raise money in his honour, and a hashtag has been created to show and share support for the victim.

The 17-year-old male victim is said to be in critical condition by police, but no other details of his health have been released.

Nevertheless, CKWS has been in contact with a source who says she personally knows the victim and that he has suffered such severe injuries that he has had to go through several brain surgeries since the attack on his life on Monday.

The post says that the young man was beaten with baseball bats and is so badly hurt, that they do not know if he will survive. According to Cam Mack, communications officer for Kingston Police, an aluminum bat was indeed involved in the alleged attack, but he could not comment on the health of the victim, beyond the fact that he is still in critical condition.

CKSW has chosen not to identify the source. She said that her Facebook post about the victim has led to online threats to her family and she does not feel safe revealing her identity.

According to police, the two men accused in the attempted murder case were apprehended yesterday on separate occasions after a city-wide search.

Kingston Police say the two young men left the victim for dead in a Kingston alleyway, and that they were both wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and robbery.

According to police on April 9,  around  5:15 p.m. the victim and a friend walked down an alleyway between First Avenue and Concession Street to meet two other males. As the group met up the 19-year-old and 17-year-old accused appeared. Police say the 19-year-old brandished an aluminum bat and struck the victim in the head. The two other boys who had been waiting to meet the victim and his friends fled while the 19-year-old struck the victim again. The two accused then stole the victims backpack, wallet and cellphone before fleeing on foot.

1:36 Attempted murder update

Police were called and found the victim laying in the alley suffering from severe injuries. Frontenac Paramedics responded and transported the victim to hospital where he remains in critical condition.

The next day, around 1 a.m., another victim was at his home on Newmarket Lane when the two accused whom he knew through friends showed up at his door. Police say the victim invited the two accused into the garage. The group began smoking marijuana as the two accused told the victim about their earlier attack. The two accused then suddenly allegedly attacked the victim, punching him and smashing bongs over his head before wrapping a tee-shirt around the victim’s neck in an attempt to choke him.

Police say the two accused robbed the victim of his wallet and cellphone before fleeing when another resident heard the commotion and opened the door. Police say the second victim suffered injuries requiring medical attention.

Police released the name and photos of one of the young men, 19-year-old Josh Owen Simpson, but kept the identity of the 17-year-old suspect from the public.

On Tuesday, after circulating the story and the photo of Simpson on social media, a social media post alerted Kingston police to the 17-year-old suspect, at 2:45 p.m., who had supposedly been seen around  John Counter Boulevard and Montreal Street.

At approximately 5:10 p.m., a patrol officer spotted the 19-year-old suspect, Josh Owen Simpson, in the area of Montreal Street and Raglan Road. The officer stopped and arrested Simpson without incident.

With files from Trisha Bauder and Frazer Snowdon