A 22-year-old man accused of stealing a lemur, monkey and tortoise from a zoo north of Barrie last year has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting in Whitchurch-Stouffville on Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency crews were called to the parking lot of Churchill Community Church, located near Ninth Line and Aurora Road, for a reported shooting just after 3 p.m.
When officers arrived, Alex Perlmutter, of Sunderland, Ont., was found lying between two parked vehicles suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.
Perlmutter was previously arrested on June 1, 2018 in connection with the theft of three animals from the Elmvale Jungle Zoo in Springwater Township. Perlmutter and another man were charged with break and enter and theft in connection with the incident.
One of the stolen animals, a lemur named “J.C.,” was found by motorists on June 4, 2018. Later, another stolen animal, a gibbon monkey named “Agnes,” was found during a raid on a house in Quebec in October 2018.
“Stanley” the tortoise was still reported missing as of October 2018.
No arrests have been made in connection with the murder of Perlmutter.
Police said three male suspects were seen fleeing the area in a dark-coloured SUV but did not provide any further details.
Investigators are asking anyone with video surveillance footage or dash camera video from the area to contact them.
Speaking to CP24 on Thursday, one area resident said neighbours have reported seeing suspicious vehicles in the church parking lot recently.
"It looks like a bit of a rendezvous place. For what purpose we don’t really know," he said. "We are a little shaken at what happened yesterday."
York Regional Police Const. Laura Nicolle said police are also at the scene of a second location, near Queensville Side Road and Highway 48.
Investigators believe the shooting occurred there and then Perlmutter was driven to the Churchill Community Church area by a witness to his shooting.
