Suspect in fatal Etobicoke drive-by shooting arrested in Saskatchewan more than a year later

Mohamed Hassan is seen in this undated photograph provided by police.

A man wanted by police in connection with a drive-by shooting in Etobicoke that killed a 21-year-old man has been taken into custody in Saskatchewan more than a year after the alleged incident.

The fatal shooting took place on April 3, 2021 around 5:40 p.m. in the area of Dixon and Scarlett roads.

According to investigators, Habil Abdilahi Hassan and another man were driving in the area when a vehicle pulled up alongside them. At least two suspects opened fire on the vehicle, striking Hassan and the other occupant.

The suspects fled the scene and the victims drove to another area and dialed 911.

Both were transported to hospital with gunshot wounds, but Hassan was pronounced dead shortly after.

Later that month, police issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for 20-year-old Toronto resident Mohamed Hassan in connection the shooting. He was wanted for first-degree murder and attempted murder.

In April 2022, about a year after police first issued the arrest warrant, police included Mohamed Hassan’s name on the BOLO program’s list of Canada’s top 25 most wanted fugitives.

A few months after that, police offered a $50,000 reward to anyone with information about his whereabouts.

“Let me be clear; these fugitive cases are some of the most heinous the BOLO program has had the unfortunate task to amplify,” BOLO program director Max Langlois told reporters in July 2022.

On Tuesday, police said that Mohamed Hassan, now 22 years old, was taken into custody in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, on an unrelated matter. He is scheduled in court locally for those charges and investigators say they are working to have him transferred back to Toronto.

The charges have not been proven in court.