Vigil held for international student shot dead outside Toronto subway station

A vigil was held Sunday for a 21-year-old international student who was shot and killed outside of a downtown Toronto subway station earlier this week.

Family, friends, and colleagues of Kartik Vasudev gathered at Nathan Phillips Square and held a moment of silence for the Indian student who was studying marketing at Seneca College and had arrived in Canada just four months ago.

“As an international student myself, this tragedy has greatly impacted me as many international students have given up so much to move here,” Ritik Sharma, president of the Seneca Student Federation, said. “My heart is broken.”

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Vasudev was on his way to work Thursday evening when he was shot outside of Sherbourne subway station in Toronto’s St. James Town neighbourhood.

An off-duty paramedic at the scene administered first aid to Kartik before he was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital and pronounced deceased.

No arrests have been made in the shooting, but police have said the suspect is a Black male standing five-foot-six to five-foot-seven inches tall with a medium build who was last seen carrying a handgun and walking south on Glen Road toward Howard Street.

Vasudev’s father Jitesh spoke with CTV News Toronto from India on Saturday and described the killing as a “brutal murder” that saw his son shot as many as seven times.

Kartik Vasudev, 21, is shown in an image provided to CP24 by his family.

Seneca College President David Agnew was present at Sunday’s ceremony and spoke about the seemingly “random” nature of the shooting.

“It is beyond comprehension for all of us. I can’t imagine, as a parent, the feelings of his parents right now, so many thousands of miles away,” he said. “I know that they will draw great comfort from seeing all of you here knowing that your thoughts and your prayers are with them as well as we seek answers to why this possibly could have happened.”

The Consulate General of India is currently working with Vasudev’s family to bring his body back to India. A GoFundMe page with of goal of raising $50,000 to support his family has been established. At time of writing, nearly $25,000 has been raised.

Anyone with information related to the shooting is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers.