A 20-year-old man who allegedly shot at and wounded a number of people in Etobicoke in five separate shootings earlier this month appears to have chosen his victims at random, Toronto police said.
The first shooting occurred at around 4 p.m. on Jan. 9 in the area of Rathburn Road and The West Mall.
According to police, a 19-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl were standing in the hallway of a building in the area when police said a man outside began shooting multiple rounds at the pair inside.
The male victim sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and the girl was not injured.
One week later, investigators said another shooting was reported at around 3:10 p.m. in the area of Finch and Islington avenues.
A 47-year-old man was standing outside a building when a man with a gun approached and shot him.
The third shooting occurred on Jan. 20, again in the area of Finch and Islington avenues.
Police said a 20-year-old man was walking on the street at around 4:30 p.m. when a suspect got out of a vehicle and opened fire.
The very next day, police said a man and a four-year-old girl were shot at while they sat in a parked car in the same area where the shooting took place the day before. They were both uninjured.
The suspect struck again hours later.
According to investigators, the suspect was in a vehicle when he pulled up to a 19-year-old man walking in the area of Rathburn Road and Renforth Drive. Police said the suspect rolled down his window and started shooting.
On Monday, 20-year-old Brampton resident Adam Abdi was arrested in connection with all five shootings.
He is facing numerous charges, including seven counts of attempted murder, five counts of possessing a restricted or prohibited firearm, and five counts of discharging a firearm with intent to wound, endanger life, or prevent arrest.
Police have called the shootings “mind-boggling” and say the victims are lucky to be alive.
“It defies any rationale as to why this would happen. We have no direct motive,” Supt. Ron Taverner told CP24 Tuesday.
“The victims are all unrelated, don’t know each other, different locations. It is a mind-boggling case.”
Taverner said officers retrieved the weapon alleged to be used in the shootings after a search warrant was executed at Abdi’s home.
“From the first shooting on January 9 we obviously had a description of a suspect. We had a description of the vehicle. As the other shootings took place, we had those same descriptions of both the vehicle and the suspect,” he said. “As a result of some work that our investigators were doing, we were able to track down the vehicle to a Brampton address late Sunday night.”
Taverner said the suspect led them on a brief foot pursuit prior to the arrest.
“This is totally unbelievable that this situation has happened in this community, in this city, in this country,” he said.
“(The arrest) is a sigh of relief, not only to the community but to the police.”
