Friends and neighbours identify teen killed in shooting at North York highrise as Hanad Abdullahi, 16
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...e-st-and-falstaff-ave-toronto-police-say.html
A 16-year-old boy is dead following a shooting at a North York apartment building overnight Thursday, Toronto police say.
Police were called to the red-brick highrise at 30 Falstaff Ave., near Jane St., at 1:07 a.m. after reports of a shooting. After arriving, they found the boy unresponsive. He died at the scene.
Three suspects were seen fleeing the area in a dark-coloured Honda, Toronto police media spokesperson Katrina Arrogante said.
Police have not yet named the boy, but friends and neighbours at the building identified him as Hanad Abdullahi, 16.
“I’ve known him my entire life. The sweetest kid,” said Jennifer Boahen, who said she is a close friend of Abdullahi’s family.
“It’s a shock. This whole community, we are grieving.”
Boahen said Abdullahi was heading home from playing video games with friends at a neighbouring highrise — another in a trio of tall Toronto Community Housing Corporation apartment blocks beside Hwy. 401 — when he was shot.
After visiting Abdullahi’s family Thursday afternoon, York-Southwest MPP Faisal Hassan said they’re devastated but also frustrated by what they said was the slow response from police.
“Kids are dying in their own community. It’s unacceptable. Something has to be done,” Hassan said.
Meanwhile, police and members of the forensic identification unit could be seen working outside the building Thursday.
A black forensic van and several cruisers could be seen parked at the front entrance and a section of the side entrance was cordoned off by police yellow tape.
Neighbours were seen coming in and out of the building, some covering their faces and hugging each other for comfort.
Boahen said there have been security concerns in the neighbourhood for a long time, adding that residents have been asking for more security cameras.
“This was not the first shooting that happened at Falstaff, and this probably won’t be the last. That’s just the sad reality,” she said.
Records from Toronto police and the Star show several killings at or near the three highrises in recent years, as well as several other shootings.
In December 2009, 19-year-old Aeon Grant was shot dead inside 30 Falstaff in a killing that remains unsolved.
In February 2010, 22-year-old Tyrell Duffus was shot dead in the stairwell of 20 Falstaff Ave., a highrise next door to where Abdullahi was killed.
In June 2006, 20-year-old Jermaine Miller was shot dead at a nearby community centre in a killing that remains unsolved.
Barni Siyad, a mother who said she was on her way to visit Abdullahi’s family Thursday, said her children go to the same school he attended.
She described Abdullahi as being a “very good” boy who would not cause trouble anywhere.
“Very active, very humble, very good. That’s all I know about him,” she said. “I feel very bad for her mother. This is a very terrible thing to happen.”
Abdullahi is Toronto’s 35th homicide victim of 2019, and the 19th killed in a shooting.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...e-st-and-falstaff-ave-toronto-police-say.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...e-st-and-falstaff-ave-toronto-police-say.html
A 16-year-old boy is dead following a shooting at a North York apartment building overnight Thursday, Toronto police say.
Police were called to the red-brick highrise at 30 Falstaff Ave., near Jane St., at 1:07 a.m. after reports of a shooting. After arriving, they found the boy unresponsive. He died at the scene.
Three suspects were seen fleeing the area in a dark-coloured Honda, Toronto police media spokesperson Katrina Arrogante said.
Police have not yet named the boy, but friends and neighbours at the building identified him as Hanad Abdullahi, 16.
“I’ve known him my entire life. The sweetest kid,” said Jennifer Boahen, who said she is a close friend of Abdullahi’s family.
“It’s a shock. This whole community, we are grieving.”
Boahen said Abdullahi was heading home from playing video games with friends at a neighbouring highrise — another in a trio of tall Toronto Community Housing Corporation apartment blocks beside Hwy. 401 — when he was shot.
After visiting Abdullahi’s family Thursday afternoon, York-Southwest MPP Faisal Hassan said they’re devastated but also frustrated by what they said was the slow response from police.
“Kids are dying in their own community. It’s unacceptable. Something has to be done,” Hassan said.
Meanwhile, police and members of the forensic identification unit could be seen working outside the building Thursday.
A black forensic van and several cruisers could be seen parked at the front entrance and a section of the side entrance was cordoned off by police yellow tape.
Neighbours were seen coming in and out of the building, some covering their faces and hugging each other for comfort.
Boahen said there have been security concerns in the neighbourhood for a long time, adding that residents have been asking for more security cameras.
“This was not the first shooting that happened at Falstaff, and this probably won’t be the last. That’s just the sad reality,” she said.
Records from Toronto police and the Star show several killings at or near the three highrises in recent years, as well as several other shootings.
In December 2009, 19-year-old Aeon Grant was shot dead inside 30 Falstaff in a killing that remains unsolved.
In February 2010, 22-year-old Tyrell Duffus was shot dead in the stairwell of 20 Falstaff Ave., a highrise next door to where Abdullahi was killed.
In June 2006, 20-year-old Jermaine Miller was shot dead at a nearby community centre in a killing that remains unsolved.
Barni Siyad, a mother who said she was on her way to visit Abdullahi’s family Thursday, said her children go to the same school he attended.
She described Abdullahi as being a “very good” boy who would not cause trouble anywhere.
“Very active, very humble, very good. That’s all I know about him,” she said. “I feel very bad for her mother. This is a very terrible thing to happen.”
Abdullahi is Toronto’s 35th homicide victim of 2019, and the 19th killed in a shooting.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...e-st-and-falstaff-ave-toronto-police-say.html
