More than a week after the deadly shooting at Drake’s official OVO Fest afterparty, the Toronto rapper is maintaining his silence.

Drake’s publicist, Melissa Nathan of New York-based communications firm Hiltzik Strategies, declined to comment Thursday.

And the rapper himself hasn’t made any kind of public statement in the wake of gunfire at Muzik nightclub last Monday – which killed Duvel Hibbert, 23, and Ariela Navarro-Fenoy, 26 – despite calls from friends of the victims, Crime Stoppers, and the general public for Drake to use his influence to denounce gun violence.

Hibbert’s family says they are disappointed by both the silence of witnesses of the shooting and Drake, who has been resoundingly criticized for not speaking out against the gun violence.

Hibbert’s mother Auline Lewis said she would have liked to have heard from Drake out of “common decency.”

“I am so saddened by that,” she said.

The rapper is currently in Toronto, the Star has learned, but there’s no word about any public appearances.

When asked if Drake should “step up” and urge people to contact CrimeStoppers or the police, Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) told reporters on Thursday, “I can only do what I think is right for myself… I am not going to advise other people about what they should be doing to step up. I think the message should go out from every place it possibly can.”

So why the silence?

“I can only surmise, but I suspect he’s trying to hopefully make it go away. A ‘head in the sand’ strategy,” said Jeff Roach, coordinator of the public relations and corporate communications program at Seneca College.

“I suspect that someone’s advising, or he’s come to his own conclusion, that this is the best way to deal with it – not realizing there’s an expectation on him given his stature in the community.”

Whatever the reasoning, Roach said this approach typically doesn’t work well and often “erodes the credibility of the spokesperson, sometimes unjustly.”

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A different tune on Danzig

Drake’s silence on the Muzik shootings is a stark contrast to his public denouncement of violence in the wake of the 2012 Danzig St. shootings that left two people dead and another 23 injured.

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“My condolences go out to the family and friends of Shyanne Charles and Joshua Yasay. Senseless violence in Toronto has to stop,” Drake tweeted after the shooting.

He also lent his voice to a 2013 Snoop Lion track, “No Guns Allowed,” in which he raps about that “summer day that went horribly wrong” in Toronto.

With files from David Rider, Tamara Khandaker, Katie Daubs

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