A man arrested on Monday afternoon in connection with a 2017 homicide was identified as a suspect in the case after being found by officers suffering from gunshot wounds in York.
Uniformed officers were flagged down around 3:45 p.m. to help a man suffering from gunshot wounds in the area of Gloucester Grove and Alameda Avenue, near Allen Road and Eglinton Avenue.
Officers later identified the man as a 24-year-old wanted on a Canada-wide warrant since the spring of 2017.
In the early morning hours of April 15, 2017, Samatar Farah was killed in what police have called a “senseless” shooting on Chester Le Boulevard, near Finch Avenue East.
Police believe the 24-year-old was murdered as part of an ongoing feud between residents of two adjacent housing complexes.
There had been another shooting on the same block just days earlier, on April 13. Shots were fired at three people, two of whom were seriously wounded.
Farah, a resident of Chester Le Boulevard, had no criminal history.
His untimely death stunned his family, who said he was months away from graduation and adored for his “genuine, kind-hearted nature.”
By June of the same year, police executed 11 different search warrants in connection to the investigation, in Toronto, Scarborough and Ottawa, which resulted in the arrest of two suspects.
A slew of charges were laid against Taufiq Stanley, 20, and Trevor Barnett, 25.
Police also issued Canada-wide warrants for the arrest of two other suspects.
Toronto police arrested one of those outstanding suspects on Monday.
Shaquan McLean, now 24, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with the April 13 shooting.
He appeared in court on the charges on Tuesday and is scheduled to appear again via video on Nov. 13.
A fourth suspect, identified as 24-year-old Alexander Fountain, is still wanted on the strength of a warrant for first-degree murder and attempted murder.
“It's not alleged that Mr. McLean was a party to the murder, but what links the two incidents is Mr. Alexander Fountain, who is still at large and wanted for three counts of attempted murder from April 13 as well as first-degree murder, which took place April 15,” Det. Jason Shankaran told CTV News Toronto.
Fountain became the focus of a new Toronto police pilot project in May aimed at spreading the word about outstanding suspects through public awareness campaigns.
The program, dubbed BOLO, is short for ‘Be On the Lookout’ and utilized both social media accounts and simpler tactics like T-shirts and flyers with the names and photos of suspects.
Fountain has not yet been located.
“Police would like to remind members of the public that providing assistance to Alexander Fountain is an offence under the Criminal Code and police will seek the prosecution of anyone who provides assistance to him to evade arrest,” police wrote in a news release.
“The offence is called accessory after the fact and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.”
Anyone with information about Fountain’s whereabouts is being asked to call Toronto police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
