Updated as of March 15, 3:45 p.m.: In a previous version of this story, Peel Regional Police misidentified one of two men arrested in connection with the fatal shooting. Investigators released the correct identity on Friday.
Two men have been arrested and a warrant has been issued for a third after a Hells Angels member was gunned down in broad daylight in Mississauga.
Michael Deabaitua-Schulde was shot in the parking lot of a strip mall near Dundas Street East and Cawthra Road on Monday morning.
Paramedics found the 32-year-old wounded near the HUF Boxing Gym, located in the plaza, at around 11:20 a.m. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but died of his injuries.
“What I can say is that this was a targeted attack, there was no danger, obviously other than where it happened... During the daytime in a plaza,” Peel Regional Police Supt. Martin Ottaway said at a news conference Thursday.
“The target of the attack was the victim.”
Deabaitua-Schulde was a “well-entrenched” member of the Niagara chapter of the Hells Angels, Ottaway said, and he was known to police.
The suspects are not believed to be connected to any “outlaw motorcycle gang” but have ties to “organized criminal activity.”
The two arrests were made in Montreal in conjunction with local police on Wednesday night.
Marckens Vilme, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder and Brandon Reyes, 24, has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder. Both are residents of Montreal.
A third suspect, identified as 38-year-old Joseph Pallotta, from Saint-Leonard, Quebec, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for first-degree murder.
Ottaway would not elaborate on how each suspect was involved in the attack, but suggested there may be others that have yet to be identified, at least publicly.
He would not comment on a possible motive for the violence.
“We obviously believe obviously he was targeted for a reason,” he said. “We take that seriously, we take all organized crime activity seriously and we investigate to the fullest extent.”
A partially burned out Honda Civic was located about three kilometres away from the scene, near Rymal and Tomken roads, shortly after the shooting.
Investigators believe the blue car was used as a getaway vehicle.
“I believe they torched that vehicle in order to dispose of evidence and potential other elements we could’ve obtained to possibly identify them,” Ottaway said.
He refused to comment on whether evidence was seized or identified in the car.
Peel police Chief Chris McCord said Hells Angels members reside across the province, but that there are no known chapters in Peel Region.
“Here in Mississauga, I can assure the community that this still remains one of the safest communities within Canada,” McCord said. “We will put all the efforts that we have to maintain that safety.”
