Toronto police have identified 37-year-old Matthew Staikos as the city’s latest homicide victim after he was gunned down Monday night in Yorkville in what has been a violent week in the city.
Officers were called to the intersection of Bay Street and Yorkville Avenue, north of Bloor Street West, just after 11:30 p.m. with reports someone was shot.
A Toronto Paramedics spokesperson told Global News people in the area waved down a passing ambulance for help. Paramedics tended to Staikos, but he died at the scene.
According to profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn, Staikos was the CEO of Vleepo, a technology company based out of Toronto that provides a messaging platform for group chats
WATCH: Toronto’s latest murder victim shot to death in Yorkville. Catherine McDonald reports.
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Harry Papadopoulos, who owns Herman-Sellers-Gough Furs located on Bay Street, had a stray bullet go through one of its doors. He called the situation “unfortunate.”
“I guess it’s a sign of the times, but it’s quite shocking,” he told Global News on Tuesday, adding he was glad no one was in the store at the time of the incident.
“[There’s] a bullet in the wall, that’s it. So we’ll consider ourselves lucky,” he said.
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Police said they are looking for a male suspect, who investigators described as being five-foot-10 and having a medium build. Officers said the suspect left the scene in a vehicle described as a silver or grey four-door Mercedes.
Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack told Global News there have been six shootings in the past three days. Staikos was the second fatality in as many days and the city’s 36th homicide victim of 2018. Furthermore, there have been six murders in the past eight days in Toronto.
On Monday, 21-year-old Venojan (Veno) Suthesan was gunned down in the city’s east end near Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute.
On Saturday, 41-year-old Rhoderie Estrada — a mother of three — was found in her home suffering from “obvious signs of trauma” and was pronounced dead on scene.
Police closed off the immediate area for several hours as investigators gathered evidence at the scene.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
—With files from Catherine McDonald.
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