It was not a stray bullet that struck the Grade 4 Winston Churchill Public School student, according to investigators at the time. Police believe the shooting was targeted, but Kesean was not the intended victim.

The youngster who loved basketball, dancing, and cheetahs, had moved to the townhouse at 51 Ardglen Dr., Unit 164, with his mother and brother just three days earlier. They moved from Hamilton to be closer to Kesean’s father, who lived in Brampton at the time.

The previous tenant of the townhouse, a man "known to police" as they say, my have been the target the gunman was really looking for, according to police.

“The person was definitely targeting the residence,” said Peel Insp. George Koekkoek at the time. “Their intention was to shoot through that living room window into the house. They were standing immediately outside the window when they fired the shot.”

That a nine-year-old boy could be fatally shot while sitting in his own living room shocked and angered the community.

Peel police have worked the case long and hard, but weeks turned into years without an arrest.

A break appeared to come in early 2016 when it was announced the gun that killed Kesean had been found. It was used four months after the little boy’s murder in a brazen daylight murder of a Scarborough father.

Surendra Vaithilingam was fatally shot on May 29, 2013, while at his home on Mantis Rd., near Morningside and Finch avenues.

Vaithilingam, 38, and a family member were laying interlocking bricks in his backyard in preparation for his child’s birthday party when three men swarmed into his backyard and fired once before fleeing.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have not revealed when or how the gun was found. No arrests have been made in Vaithilingam’s murder.

While Kesean’s murder may not be a completely “cold” case, it has been four years without answers for his grieving mother and a shaken community.

“This one, for us, is horrific,” Koekkoek said at the time. “Any time a child is involved, is the victim of a crime like this, it’s difficult, because that’s our job— the police and the community— to protect our children, and we failed.”

Anyone with information should call Peel Homicide Bureau at 905-453-2121, ext. 3205, or Peel Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

With files from Torsta.

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