Police are investigating after an 18-year-old man was fatally shot in Etobicoke late Wednesday evening.
Toronto police responded to a call around 9:20 p.m. at Elmhurst Drive and Redwater Drive just west of Islington Avenue.
Police said the victim was located with life-threatening injuries and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Police said multiple shots were fired and a number of men were seen fleeing the area in a black vehicle.
The victim’s father, who identified his son as Aseel Yehya, said he was in the area to give a gift to a friend when he was shot.
“He finished work, come home and then he said, ‘I’m going to visit my friend.’ He said he had a gift for him. A T-shirt,” Saleh Ali said.
Ali said his son was waiting for a bus when shots were fired from a vehicle.
“He’s a good boy. He’s a young boy. He’s a educated boy. He’s a working boy at the airport. I was very shocked. Never ever seen anything like this happen in all my life. It’s not easy,” Ali said.
A witness told Global News she was inside her home when gunshots rang out.
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“I was up, walking to the kitchen, I hear bop, bop, bop. I go to the front door. I see something fall,” Jane Sedore said.
The witness said her 27-year-old son ran out the door to help.
“Robert helped cradle his head, held his head,” Sedore said. “I can’t put it into words. I can’t get my heart rate down. I’m devastated. I think the whole neighbourhood is.”
The shooting death is the city’s third homicide of 2019. This follows a year when Toronto set a homicide record with 96.
Delroy Sherman, a crisis chaplain and community advocate, said more needs to be done to combat violence in the city.
“We need more, better protection in our cities and we have the power, we have the tools to combat these problems in our city and if we don’t try to do something, this is going to go on, and on and on,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS.
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