Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated Shakeel Ashraf had three daughters, when in fact he had two.
The victim of a shooting in Milton, Ont., that killed one man and left two people with injuries has been identified as a longtime local resident.
Family and friends told Global News the victim was Shakeel Ashraf, whom they described as a “fixture” of the Milton Pakistani and Muslim communities.
Ashraf, who ran a mechanic shop, was working at his business, MK Auto Repairs, on Milton’s Bronte Road when he was shot and killed.
Sylvia Lombardi, who visited MK Auto Repairs in the past, said he always had a smile.
“Very polite to people,” she said of Ashraf.
A multi-jurisdiction police operation played out of Monday afternoon after shootings in Mississauga and Milton believed to have been perpetrated by the same suspect.
In Mississauga, a Toronto police officer, Andrew Hong, was shot dead at close range around 2:15 p.m. in the area of Argentia Road and Winston Churchill Boulevard. One other person suffered life-altering injuries.
Police said the suspect then fled to Milton, where they said he killed one person and injured two others who, as of Monday evening, were in critical and serious condition.
The suspect eventually died following an interaction with a Halton officer in the city of Hamilton, police said. The Special Investigation Unit, the watchdog that investigates incidents including police shootings, is probing events around the suspect’s death.
Friends in Milton said Ashraf owned his mechanic the shop and had run it for several years.
People who interacted with him called him an “honest mechanic.” One said they felt comfortable going to him with the smallest of problems.
Amanda Bowers, who regularly took vehicles to Ashraf, said he was a “very family-oriented man.”
She said a lot of locals visited his shop to service their cars and the death “hits close to home” for the Milton community.
Many referred to him as “Shakeel Bhai” in Urdu, meaning Brother Shakeel, as a sign of respect.
Ashraf is survived by two daughters and a wife, according to friends and community members who knew him.