

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





Homicide detectives are investigating after a 24-year-old man was found dead in a parking lot in Scarborough’s Chester Le neighbourhood Saturday morning, hours after shots rang out in the neighbourhood.

Officers came to the area of Chester Le Boulevard after neighbours heard gunshots and called police at around 1:30 a.m. However officers didn’t locate any victims.

It wasn’t until 8 a.m. when a resident was walking through the parking lot that the body was discovered and police were called back to the area.

“A person from the nighbourhood discovered the body and called 911,” Det. Jason Shankaran told CP24.

The victim has been identified as 24-year-old Samatar Farah.

The fatal shooting comes just two days after two people were shot and injured on the same block. Shankaran said it’s still too early to say whether the two incidents are connected, but he said investigators will be exploring possible connections.

“Obviously these are all things that may or may not be tied together,” Shankaran said.

Shankaran said Farah was not known to police.

“He was such a good kid – this was definitely not him,” a friend named Gure Omar told CTV News Toronto. “If people think this is the lifestyle he lived, no. He was a very good kid.”

Police are looking for two suspects at the moment, though no detailed descriptions are yet available.

“We know that there were two individuals who met with the victim,” Shankaran said. “Shots were fired. The victim succumbed to those injuries and the two suspects fled on foot.”

Police are also looking for witnesses and are poring over surveillance footage from area cameras to try and discover what happened.

“Right now we’re appealing for people to come forward, also people that may have known the victim to come forward. Obviously his family are quite distraught at this time. They are also looking for answers, as are we, as to why this happened,” Shankaran said.

Despite the recent violence, police said they do not believe there is a wider threat to public safety.

“There are going to be people that know things as to why this happened. As of right now, the victim himself was targeted. As to a wider danger to the public – I don’t feel that that exists at this moment,” Shankaran said.

Still, he acknowledged that residents in the area are shaken by recent events.

“Obviously this neighbourhood has had its share of tragedy recently so we’re going to work hard to solve this,” Shankaran said.