Jeremy Vincent Urbina was taking out the trash when he was ambushed and killed by a gunman in what police call an “opportunistic killing.”

On Thursday, Toronto Police released new security camera images of two suspects in an appeal for information in the killing of the 22-year-old college student, who was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in a Toronto Community Housing community near Finch Avenue East and Leslie Street on Dec. 11. Homicide Det. Sgt. Terry Browne said the victim had “absolutely no history” with the police.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Urbina is the victim of what appears to be an opportunistic killing,” in which “a human being was hunting another human being,” Browne said. “I’ve been in the homicide squad 16 years, and I’ve seen probably everything that human beings can do to each other …. But I’ve never seen someone appear to look around, to actually hunt down another human being.”

Those who know Urbina remember the second-year integrated media student at OCAD University for his humour, creativity, sensitivity, generosity and thoughtfulness.

“His life revolved, in many ways, on ensuring his mother was okay and happy and supported, especially so, as he got older. He often wrote poetry about their experiences as a family unit,” Amy Stuart, Urbina’s high school teacher and a best-selling author of two novels, wrote in a Twitter thread to commemorate her former student.

“Jeremy stayed close with beloved friends from many facets of his life — childhood, high school, community, OCAD. Together these kids were goofy, creative, ridiculous, smart, engaged. They held tight friendships, looked out for each other.”

Urbina loved art, photography, poetry and theatre, she said, and his art was often displayed on the walls of the school. While still in high school, Urbina applied for the Soulpepper City Youth Academy and once a week attended a dual-credit college psychology course toward his college credit.

“His advocacy stretched in many directions. Jeremy attended Women’s Marches, Pride Parades. One of my colleagues asked him, on video as they marched, why he was at the 2017 @WomensMarchTO,” wrote Stuart. “He answered that there were a million reasons, but fundamentally, he believed in equality.”

Stuart said Urbina would email her regularly to keep me updated on his life and progress with school and he always began every email by asking how she and her family were doing and how life was going for her.

“There is a photo from his graduation of Jeremy hugging his mother. Her smile is so intensely bright and happy. The sacrifices she made to get him there were plain. I think of her today. The depth of her loss and pain is unimaginable,” said Stuart.

“What I remember best about Jeremy was the beaming quality of his smile and the gentleness of his voice. He was so soft spoken despite taking up so many causes and passions close to his heart. Jeremy, your teachers remember you for the complex and bright young man you were. Your death does not make sense to us at all. I am grateful I knew you. You were an amazing kid.

“With your death, we have all failed.”

Police said Urbina was taking out the trash and returning to the complex when one of the suspects came up from behind and “immediately” fired his weapon. They hope someone will be able to identify the suspects from the new images, which show two men in black hoodies walking through a laundry room, one with the lower half of his face covered with light or pink fabric.

Browne said the suspect did not exchange words with Urbina before shooting “double digits,” meaning 10 or more, times. “There is absolutely no interaction with Mr. Urbina and the shooter.”

The suspects were seen scouting the area for six minutes before they attacked Urbina, a fact Browne suggests they were either looking for a specific person or that, “even more disturbing, they could have been in that area — just in that area looking for anyone who happened to be there.”

“Mr. Urbina did not see this coming,” Browne said. “This was nothing short of being callous, cowardly and evil incarnate.”

Investigators are appealing for witnesses, or anyone driving in the area at the time who has dash-cam footage, to contact police.

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Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, or through Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com.

Urbina was Toronto’s 67th homicide victim of 2019. He lived with his parents in the housing complex where he was killed.

With files from the Canadian Press