A 23-year-old Ontario man who dreamed of becoming a police officer before he was shot dead last week was remembered at a funeral on Monday.
Friends and family gathered at a parish in Ajax, Ont., to remember Joshua Yasay, one of two victims of a deadly public shooting during a Toronto block party last Monday.
Twenty-three others were injured in the fray.
The Ajax resident completed a degree in criminology from York University last year and had dreams of becoming a police officer.
He was also a basketball fan who turned his passion for the sport into community service, volunteering for two years as a coach for youth with learning disabilities.
Mourning a dedicated volunteer
Katie Bushie, a program manager at the Learning Disabilities Association of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca that she will remember Yasay as a dedicated and caring volunteer.
Bushie said she was planning on offering Yasay a paid position because she was so impressed with his work. She recalled how he told her he “wouldn’t feel right” accepting pay.
On the day of the shooting, Yasay was working at a barber shop he’d help to open nine months earlier.
He went to the deadly party in Toronto’s Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood after work, but soon texted a friend saying he wasn’t enjoying himself. A little while later, he was killed.
At a memorial on Saturday, saddened friends told CTV Toronto that Yasay was an innocent victim.
“It’s just so random. He’s not one of those people to be involved in anything bad. He does community work -- he finished criminology. He stands up for justice and justice has to be had right now,” said childhood friend Matthew Zajch.
A funeral for Shyanne Charles, the other victim of the block party shooting, will be held next weekend.
