It was after 11 p.m. on a Sunday in September 2023 when police stated 4 younger suspects parked their automobile on Danzig Road, close to Morningside Avenue, in Toronto’s east finish.
They obtained out of the car and ran throughout the road to a close-by parkette, police stated. Once they made it throughout the road, police allege they opened hearth at two folks, sending one in all them to hospital with life-threatening accidents.
Two weeks later, in the beginning of October 2023, the sufferer, who was recognized as 21-year-old Joshua Bernard-Reis, died from his accidents and the incident grew to become a murder investigation.
For months, detectives with Toronto police say they labored to apprehend the 4 suspects and perceive the motive for the brazen capturing.
A 19-year-old man from Markham was arrested and charged with first-degree homicide in the beginning of 2024, together with a 16-year-old boy who was charged with first-degree homicide and tried homicide.
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Then, on Monday, police made one other two arrests. A 21-year-old man from Toronto and an 18-year-old male from Brampton additionally each face first-degree and tried homicide adjustments.
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The precise motive for the capturing, nonetheless, hasn’t been clearly outlined.
Det. Sgt. Brandon Worth, with Toronto police’s murder and lacking individuals unit, stated throughout a information convention on Thursday that the suspects have alleged hyperlinks to gang exercise within the metropolis. The sufferer, he stated, was not recognized to police in any manner.
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The placement of the capturing, at Danzig Road and Morningside Avenue, has been on regulation enforcement’s radar earlier than and police are contemplating the chance the capturing was “randomly targeted.”
“There’s a number of theories that could explain this but Danzig Street has had issues in the past and it seems like there’s a high likelihood that this was a situation where it was a message to the street or something like that because there’s no reason why these two individuals would have been targeted themselves,” Worth stated.
“They’re not involved in any kind of criminal or gang involvement or anything like this. They’re two hard-working young persons who happen to live on Danzig Street.”
He stated the 4 accused are the people police have been trying to find in relation to the capturing.
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“We believe we have all four shooters,” Worth stated.
The murder detective stated the folks police charged “have affiliations” with a gang and that one working idea is the victims may have been caught in a broader battle.
“We see these kind of incidents over the years where a gang might try and send a message to an opposite gang by shooting an individual in their neighbourhood,” Worth stated.
“This kind of disgusting targeting of innocent people simply because of a neighbourhood they might live in is just a terrible circumstance. But we do see that type of thing happening sometimes and it appears that this is a possible explanation for this.”
The 18-year-old from Brampton and 21-year-old from Toronto just lately arrested have been each resulting from seem in courtroom on Tuesday.
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