Toronto police say an alleged hit-and-run that left one man dead in the city’s east end is now being treated as a homicide.
They say officers were called to the area of Danforth and Cedarvale Avenues shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday for reports of a person injured in a collision.
Police say the person hit by a vehicle was at a bar and the suspect was speaking with a group of people outside.
They allege the suspect left the scene, got into the driver’s seat of a vehicle and hit the person as he was walking along the sidewalk.
Police say the suspect left the scene in a dark-coloured SUV after the collision and say the pedestrian was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
He was later pronounced dead and has been identified as Gabriel del Castillo Mullally, 25, of Toronto.
In a Facebook post, actress Maria Del Mar identified him as her son. “I am broken beyond repair,” she wrote in a raw message.
Mullally himself was involved in film and television, appearing in 2011’s Amy George, a film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The production company behind the film confirmed to Global News that Mullally had starred in their feature.
“We’re shocked and devastated by Gabriel’s tragic death,” they said in a short statement. “Out of respect for his family, we’d prefer to not say anything at this time.”
Police are asking anyone with information on the incident to come forward.
— with files from Global News