The family of a 27-year-old man who was fatally shot in front of a Bay Street hotel over the weekend are urging those who were with their loved-one at the time of his death to come forward and speak with authorities.
Kabil Abdulkhadir was gunned down in front of the Marriott hotel on Bay Street south of Dundas Street in the early hours of Saturday morning immediately after stepping out of a vehicle that was carrying several other men.
Though police say they have already spoken to a number of witnesses, Det. Sgt. Joyce Schertzer told reporters on Wednesday that investigators want those present with Abdulkhadir at the time of the shooting to come forward and speak with them in a “meaningful manner.” Members of Abdulkhadir’s family also echoed Schertzer’s plea.
“I miss my brother. He didn’t deserve to die like this,” Abdulkhadir’s sister Shadiya Hassan told reporters gathered at Toronto police headquarters on College Street. “My brother wasn’t just my brother. He was everything to me, everything but now he is gone.”
“I just lost my best friend. I wish I could bring him back but I can’t. I hope justice comes,” added Abdulkhadir’s cousin Koos Abshir.
Schertzer said that police believe Abdulkhadir was targeted, however she did not say what may have prompted the shooting or whether police are aware of a potential motive.
The detective also refused to say whether or not there was an exchange of gunfire.
Abdulkhadir was known to police, having been charged with a number of weapons offences in 2009 after officers found a loaded handgun in the vehicle he was driving.
“Investigators have reviewed video obtained from the immediate area, they have interviewed dozens of witnesses and we understand the sequence of events,” Schertzer said without providing further details.
Five family members speak out
A total of five members of Abdulkhadir’s family were present for Wednesday’s press conference and many of them choked back tears as they discussed the violent nature of their loved ones death.
Lamenting the brazen nature of the shooting, Abdulkhadir’s mother Fouzia Hassan said that her son had went to his native Somalia a few years ago and had returned to Toronto last June because it wasn’t safe, only to die in a blaze of gunfire on a busy stretch of Bay Street 14 months later.
“They kill him right in downtown. They kill my son in downtown Toronto on Bay Street,” she said.
A family friend also spoke on behalf of Fouzia Hassan at the press conference and urged anyone with information about the unsolved homicide to come forward.
“Please, whoever has any information please forward with it so we can help our next children. Not Kabil, he is gone already but our next children. We don’t want to lose them for nothing,” ,” Ayan Moham said.
Remember for instant breaking news follow @cp24 on Twitter.
