A young father of four who was gunned down outside a Liberty Village nightclub as he went to check on friends during an altercation is being remembered as a loving father, brother and son who was always looking out for others.
Kiesingar Gunn, 26, was leaving a nightclub near Mowat Avenue and Liberty Street with his wife and friends at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 11 when he went to check on his godbrother, who had left the group to help a friend who was involved in an altercation.
A single gunshot rang out and Gunn sustained a fatal head injury. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that day. Police have said that Gunn was not the intended target in the shooting.
Speaking with CP24 Tuesday Gunn’s mother, Evelyn Fox, said her son’s actions were consistent with his usual caring behaviour .
“Kiesingar was just a fun person, always looking out for somebody who was the underdog,” Fox told said. “He was very family oriented. He loved his kids, loved his siblings, he loved me. He was always taking care of me anytime he was around.”
Fox said her son was particularly devoted to his four young children – a six-year-old, a five-year-old and two one-year olds.
“If you saw him, you always saw him with his children. Everybody around our neighbourhood, that’s all they remember – how much he liked to make people laugh and help people in the community and just always (be) with his children, always with his children,” she said.
“They could laugh nonstop. They would play with him constantly. He was just the total caregiver.”
Gunn described several times on social media just how much he enjoyed being a father, husband and son.
“Just know, I love being a father, I love my kids and not anyone can take that away from me,” Gunn wrote in a post in January.
In another post on Mother’s Day in May, Gunn paid tribute to his wife Naomi, saying “I love her to death and couldn't have asked for a better woman to mother my four children.”
In the same post, he paid tribute to his mother, calling her “the woman who made me into the man I am today.”
A number of photos and videos on the account show Gunn posing lovingly with his wife and kids.
For her part, Naomi Amber Gunn wrote on Facebook that she is “in shock.”
“I have lost my best friend...my lover and amazing father of three of my kids,” she wrote in the post. “ A part of me has died with him ... I'm going to miss everything about him, to him coming home and hugging me from behind while I'm cooking dinner and say ‘I love you babe , you know that?’”
Gunn’s sister, Keyshoya Fox-Samuel, told CP24 her brother was “amazing.”
“No matter what, he was always there for me. He was legit like a big brother,” she said. “An amazing uncle, an amazing father – funny, silly, goofy. Anytime you needed a laugh, that’s who you’d call. An amazing friend.”
Police have released little suspect information so far, but say a suspect vehicle was seen fleeing the scene.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Fox said of the situation. “Today he was supposed to come here with the kids and I can’t believe he’s not going to be here.”
Still, she said she doesn’t want to waste time thinking about the perpetrator and would rather focus on remembering her son.
“It's just an unfortunate situation,” Fox said. “He wasn’t the target. I can’t be angry because it wasn’t maliciously for him. I don't want to give the perpetrator any of my thoughts to waste on him. I just want to think about my son. He lost his life because he was looking out for people.”
Fox said she wants people to know that even in death, Gunn is still helping people.
“I just want everyone to know that my son saved two lives today,” she said. “His organs were donated and kidneys were given to two people who had successful transplants, so he’s still among us, just in different people.”
A funeral will be held for Gunn on Sunday, Sept. 18 at the Scarborough Chapel, located at 2900 Kingston Rd. A public visitation will be held at noon, followed by a funeral service at 1 p.m.
