Police have arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the murder of a well-known DJ inside the midtown apartment building where he lived.
Peter Elie, 52, was found dead early Thursday morning after crews responded to a small fire in the laundry room of an apartment building on Balliol Street near Yonge Street and Davisville Avenue.
One resident in the building previously told CTV News Toronto that they heard “screaming and yelling” early that morning followed by “silence” and then the smell of smoke.
The victim’s roommate, meanwhile, said that Elie had gone down to the second floor to do laundry but did not return.
Within hours of the homicide, police released surveillance camera footage of a suspect in the case and appealed to the public for information.
That suspect was then taken into custody sometime Friday, police confirmed to CTV News Toronto.
Rico Harvey, 27, of no fixed address, is charged with second-degree murder in Elie’s death.
A motive for the homicide remains unclear, though police have previously said that there appeared to be no previous relationship between the suspect and Elie and that they likely encountered each other for the first time that morning.
Elie worked at multiple bars and establishments in Toronto's Gay Village, including Pegasus Ba and Woody’s.
“He was definitely part of the makeup of our community,” Elie’s friend Jason Pelletier told CP24 earlier this week. “Something that brings us together, especially in this community, was our music and he was the guy who pressed play for the party to start. When I think of his last moments they were not good and for somebody who so nice and positive and such a force in our community to go out that way is just devastating.”
