Family friends have confirmed to CTV News Toronto the identity of a 24-year-old man shot dead in a parking lot in Scarborough’s Chester Le neighbourhood on Saturday morning.
The body of Samatar Farah was located by police approximately eight hours after officers were initially called to the scene, near Finch Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue.
After the initial call at around 1:30 a.m. police did not locate any victims. However, at 8 a.m. a resident was walking through the parking lot and discovered a body, at which point police were then called back to the scene.
“A person from the nighbourhood discovered the body and called 911,” Det. Jason Shankaran told CP24.
Friends of Farah told CTV News Toronto that they are shocked by this incident since he was not someone who was part of “that lifestyle.”
“He was such a good kid – this was definitely not him,” Gure Omar said. “If people think this is the lifestyle he lived, no. He was a very good kid.”
The fatal shooting comes just two days after two people were shot and injured on the same block. Shankaran said it’s still too early to say whether the two incidents are connected, but he said investigators will be exploring possible connections.
“Obviously these are all things that may or may not be tied together,” Shankaran said.
Police are looking for two suspects involved in this incident at the moment, though no detailed descriptions are yet available.
“We know that there were two individuals who met with the victim,” Shankaran said. “Shots were fired. The victim succumbed to those injuries and the two victims fled on foot.”
Police are also looking for witnesses and are poring over surveillance footage from area cameras to try and discover what happened.
“Right now we’re appealing for people to come forward, also people that may have known the victim to come forward. Obviously his family is quite distraught at this time. They are also looking for answers, as are we, as to why this happened,” Shankaran said.
Despite the recent violence, police said they do not believe there is a wider threat to public safety.
“There are going to be people that know things as to why this happened. As of right now, the victim himself was targeted. As to a wider danger to the public – I don’t feel that that exists at this moment,” Shankaran said.
Still, he acknowledged that residents in the area are shaken by recent events.
“Obviously this neighbourhood has had its share of tragedy recently so we’re going to work hard to solve this,” Shankaran said.