A murder charge has been laid against a 23-year-old Toronto man after a 22-year-old man was fatally shot in East Gwillimbury earlier this year.
Emergency crews were called to the parking lot of Churchill Community Church, located near Ninth Line and Aurora Road in Whitchurch-Stouffville, for a reported shooting just after 3 p.m. on March 27.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers said they located Alex Perlmutter, of Sunderland, Ont., lying between two parked vehicles suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was not transported to hospital.
Investigators later determined that the shooting occurred in a different parking lot at Queensville Side Road and Highway 48 in East Gwillimbury and said Perlmutter was driven to the parking lot on Ninth Line by a witness.
Perlmutter was arrested on June 1, 2018 in connection with the theft of a lemur, monkey and tortoise from the Elmvale Jungle Zoo in Springwater Township, north of Barrie. Perlmutter and another man were charged with break and enter and theft in connection with the incident.
The lemur was located by motorists on June 4, 2018 and the monkey was found during a raid on a house in Quebec in October 2018. The tortoise was still believed to be missing as of October 2018.
On Thursday, officers said Levi Alexander had been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the deadly shooting of Perlmutter.
Police previously said three male suspects were seen fleeing the area in a dark-coloured SUV.
The two other suspects have been described by investigators only as black men. Police said one of the suspects was wearing blue shoes at the time and the other had on a large chain.
“The investigating is ongoing,” police said in a news release issued on Thursday.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact police at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7865 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
