Toronto police say they do not believe a slain Toronto teacher or the two other victims wounded in a Lawrence Heights shooting early Tuesday morning were targeted by their assailants.
While addressing members of the media Wednesday afternoon, Toronto police said they are still searching for a motive.
"This is a troubling case," Det. Insp. Steve Ryan said.
Abshir Hassan, a 31-year-old TDSB supply teacher, was attending a birthday party at an apartment complex on Flemington Road, near Lawrence Avenue West and Allen Road, when he was gunned down outside the building shortly after midnight Tuesday. Two others, an 18-year-old female and a 22-year-old male, were wounded in the shooting.
Police say they have been unable to interview the two hospitalized victims as they are still in the recovery stage.
"We are lacking witnesses," Ryan said.
"This is a good time for people who do have information to call us."
Meanwhile, the Lawrence Heights community is mourning the loss of Hassan, who many have described as a "beloved" substitute teacher at a local elementary school.
"Our students are going to need some support," Lawrence Heights Middle School principal David deBelle tearfully told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
DeBelle said he met Hassan, who attended school in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood, four years ago when the teacher's college graduate started working for the school's beyond 3:30 program.
Even after he moved on to supply teaching, deBelle said Hassan continued to regularly volunteer for the after-school program.
"I think growing up in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood, which is a marginalized community, he appreciated many of the challenges students’ experience having lived through that himself," the principal said.
The public school supply teacher was always quick to volunteer his time, deBelle said, and even offered to be a DJ at the school's Grade 8 graduation two weeks ago.
"He already made a strong impact on kids," deBelle said, adding that Hassan had a "bright future" ahead of him.
Hassan's colleagues at Lawrence Heights Middle School described the man as "full of energy" and "adored."
"It is a definite loss to the teaching profession," a staff member at the school told CP24 Tuesday afternoon.
Police say they are looking for multiple suspects who they believe pulled up in a vehicle and fired more than a dozen shots at close range.
The victims were not known to police before the shooting, police told CP24.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-3200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
