

Codi Wilson and Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





A mother who sat with her 17-year-old son as he lay dying after he was shot in East York last January pleaded for anyone who may have seen her son’s killer to come forward to police.

“The smallest amount of information can make a difference to us and to this case . . .There are people out there that have information and for the sake of our community, for our family and for our son, we urge them to come forward,” Ana Pavao said at a news conference held at police headquarters on Wednesday morning.

Police also took the opportunity to announce a $50,000 reward in the case in hopes of getting people to come forward.

On Jan. 4, just before 6 p.m., Joseph Petit returned home from a walk with his German shepherd on Detonia Park Avenue, located in the area of Danforth and Victoria Park avenues. That’s when he was met by two males. After a brief conversation, a physical struggle ensued and one of the two males shot Petit, police said.

The two suspects then fled the area toward Victoria Park Station.

Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux said he believes Petit knew his assailant.

Petit, on the ground and severely injured, was found by his mother who was walking home from work at the time.

Pavao said she she spotted someone lying on the ground and went to help, only to realize the victim was her son.

“I came upon my son shot in the street. I called 911 and had I not been there my son would have died alone,” Pavao said.

Petit, who was shot in the neck at close range, was rushed to hospital in critical condition. His family made the decision to take him off of life support three days later.

“The people that murdered our son, they don’t know who Joey was, they don’t know who we are, they don’t understand the gravity of what they’ve done. They don’t know that we’re broken, they don’t know that we don’t know how to move forward,” Pavao said.

She said her son was affable and had many friends, and enjoyed barbecuing food for them. At one point, he won the award for “kindness” at school and dreamed of joining the Canadian Forces.

Police have not revealed any possible motives for the deadly shooting and no suspects have been arrested in the case.

“There are rumours in the community suggest that the murder of (Petit) is a solved investigation and I’m here to tell you that is simply not the case,” Giroux said. “There’s no doubt that some of (Petit’s) friends and associates know exactly what happened to him on that particular day and will likely know the reason for the shooting taking place.”

Giroux said police have decided to offer a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case, as no witnesses have come forward to date.

He said the close-quarters nature of the shooting meant it did not generate much physical evidence, and investigators must instead rely on witness accounts.

“It’s a witness coming forward to say ‘I was present, I saw what happened, I spoke to the offender and he told me what he did to (Petit) and why’,” and that’s the difficult part of it,” he said.