TORONTO -- A vigil was held on Saturday evening in Regent Park to remember the 21-year-old man who was fatally shot on Wednesday.
Ahmed Yakot was in a parked vehicle with a second individual on Oak Street just east of River Street at around 10:30 p.m. when another vehicle, believed to be a small dark-coloured sedan, pulled up alongside them and an assailant or assailants opened fire.
Both victims were rushed to a hospital via an emergency run, but Yakot was later pronounced dead.
The second victim suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Community members gathered and lit candles to mourn Yakot, who is the city’s first homicide victim of 2020.
“Enough is enough,” organizer Sureya Ibrahim said, adding that all levels of government should provide meaningful help to curb gun violence in the community.
“We are tired of going to funerals.”
Awad Rizieg, who lost his son to a shooting last year, echoed Ibrahim’s sentiments, saying that everyone should act to stop guns from getting into the hands of kids.
“I don’t want anybody to go through it again,” Rizieg said.
Several politicians who represent the Regent Park community also attended the vigil.
MPP Suze Morrison said every young person in the community deserves to grow up and live in a community where people can walk down the street without fear.
“We have lost a son of Regent Park,” said Ward 13 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.
Wong-Tam said she is pledging to work with her fellow politicians to ensure that the community is safe.
No information has been released about a potential suspect or suspects at this time.
Sgt. Henry Dyck of 51 Division spoke in the vigil and asked for anyone who may have information and has not talked to police to come forward.
“Guns have no place in our community,” said Dyck, adding that it is tragic when a deadly shooting happens in a vibrant locale.
A neighbourhood resident, Miguel Abila, said there needs to be an investment in programs that will help the youth to get good jobs as violence has been linked to poverty.
Illegal firearms have no place in the community, and it shouldn’t be condoned, Selwyn Pieters said.
“The death of this 21-year-old is very sad,” Pieters said. “We have to put our feet down and make sure that that’s the only homicide in the whole community in 2020.”
