

Paul Johnston and Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





Family members and friends came together Tuesday night to call for justice for a woman fatally shot at a music festival after party last week.

The group of roughly 50 people gathered near Muzik nightclub, at Exhibition Place, where two shootings occurred at the official after party for Drake’s OVO Fest on Aug. 4.

Twenty-six-year-old Ariela Navarro-Fenoy and Duvel Hibbert, 23, were both declared dead on the scene. Three other people were also injured.

The family of Navarro-Fenoy, who organized Tuesday’s vigil, is demanding answers from both police and patrons at the club that night.

“I just want to know, out of all the 4,000 people there, why anyone isn’t speaking out,” Navarro-Fenoy’s sister Aluen Navarro said.

“We live in a world where everyone takes pictures, takes videos, Snapchats – why isn’t anyone saying something? There’s a family that’s grieving and an innocent girl who was killed.”

Navarro said she learned of her sister’s death – who she described as like a ‘second mom’ – via Instagram.

“No one contacted us. And that’s devastating. That’s heartbreaking. I never want anyone to experience anything like this.”

Saunders pleads for witness information

Tuesday night’s vigil comes just hours after Toronto’s top cop made an appeal to witnesses to come forward with their information.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Chief Mark Saunders said despite thousands of people being around the nightclub on Aug. 4, investigators have collected precious few statements, pictures or video clips.

He urged anyone “sitting on the fence” as to whether they should assist police or not to come forward immediately.

“This was not done in a vacuum, this was done in front of thousands,” Saunders said. “It was done in a public space so you know what; it’s hard to keep thousands of people silent.”

Saunders contrasted the lack of cooperation at Muzik with an unrelated shooting that occurred near Dundas and Bay streets on Saturday, the victim in that case, a 27-year-old man identified as Kabil Abdulkhadir, has died of his wounds.

“There’s a dynamic difference in the two cases,” Saunders said. “With one case we have an absence of people coming forward and in the other we have people who have stepped up to the plate and exercised their due diligence.”

Saunders also said for the first time that the two shootings that happened on the grounds of Muzik are linked through forensic evidence though he said the evidence suggests it was not a "continuous act.”

"To give the storyline that (the first shooting) was a continuous act, I'm not suggesting that at all," Saunders said.

Twenty-six-year-old Ariela Navarro-Fenoy and 23-year-old Duvel Hibbert were both declared dead on the scene.

Hibbert was shot dead in the outdoor patio area of Muzik nightclub. Saunders said investigators believe he was targeted.

Navarro-Fenoy was struck by a bullet near Dufferin Street and Springhurst Avenue. Saunders said she was not involved in any of the incidents that led up to the shooting.

Two men who were wounded during the shootings remain in hospital, while a third female victim has been discharged. Saunders said police are still trying to determine if the men have a connection to the incidents that led to the shootings but they have concluded that the woman who was wounded was not in any way involved.

Twice Saunders was asked by reporters whether Toronto rapper Drake should be encouraged to break his silence on the incident and publicly call for witnesses to come forward — as Muzik was hosting the official after party for his OVO Fest when the shootings took place.

“I’m not going to start picking on people or individuals. There were thousands of people who were there. I want anyone who has anything to do with this investigation to come forward,” Saunders said.

Saunders said the number of people who have been shot by firearms in Toronto is up 52 per cent this year over 2014, but has not yet reached the number of people hit by bullets in 2012. He said the number of people shot this year is climbing generally throughout Canada and the United States.

Councillor seeks to ban after party from Exhibition Place

A Toronto city councillor is putting forth a motion seeking to ban Drake’s annual after party and other similar events from the Exhibition Place grounds going forward.

Coun. Jim Karygiannis is requesting that a detailed report from the general manager of Exhibition Place be put together looking at banning the OVO Fest after party and other similar events from the city-owned property.

The motion is seconded by Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti.

“The OVO Fest has been surrounded by violence for the last two years and should no longer be held on the Exhibition Place grounds,” a release issued by Karygiannis Tuesday night said.

“Clearly, the presence of the Toronto police officers and dozens of private security personnel, hired by the tenant, were not sufficient to protect the public from this violent criminal attack. Regardless of the tenant’s advance planning work with Exhibition Place staff and Toronto police to provide a safe and secure venue, unfortunately, it failed, with drastic consequences.”