The deadly shooting of a 20-year-old man who was sitting in a parked vehicle in North York was likely witnessed by a passenger who left the scene before police arrived, investigators say.
Police say they were initially called to Blue Haven Crescent in the Finch and Islington avenues area at around 2:30 a.m. after receiving numerous 911 calls about the sounds of gunshots.
Once on scene, police say that officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds slumped over in the drivers’ seat of a Honda Civic.
The man, identified by police as 20-year-old Soumik Asgar, was pronounced dead on scene.
“We have evidence that a person was with the victim and has fled and we are appealing to that person right now to contact us,” Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson told reporters on Sunday morning. “There is no doubt in my mind that that person had the opportunity to witness what happened to the deceased and also may know the identity of the shooter or shooters.”
Gibson said that investigators consider the passenger a witness at this point but can’t rule out that he or she could have had some involvement in the shooting.
The detective said it is also conceivable that the passenger was injured in the shooting and hasn’t come forward for that reason.
As for the suspect or suspects, Gibson said that investigators did receive reports of a white SUV in the area at around the time of the shooting but have not been able to definitively link that vehicle to the homicide at this point.
He said that officers are currently canvassing the area in the hopes of finding residents who may have witnessed the shooting or possess surveillance cameras that could have captured it.
“At this point what we have are people who heard gunshots,” he said.
Reports from the scene indicate that more than a dozen gunshots may have been fired.
