A Toronto father had to drive to a morgue Friday to identify his son, 22-year-old Daniel Da Silva -- the city's ninth homicide victim of 2009.
Police found Da Silva behind the wheel of his $80,000 BMW sport utility vehicle on Friday evening.
He had been shot several times at close range. A passenger had jumped out of the vehicle, fearing he too might have be shot.
"What I thought was firecrackers turned out to be gunshots," resident Ken MacNeil told CTV Toronto. "The next thing I know is there's this SUV slammed into the shelter there."
The vehicle sideswiped a building in a laneway and then idled there, causing neighbours to call police to the scene, between Keele Street and Black Creek Drive.
The SUV was still running when police arrived.
Emergency crews pronounced Da Silva dead at the scene.
Da Silva's parents live not far from the murder scene. Friends came by to comfort the victim's mother.
"It's tragic, you know," childhood friend Will Roque told CTV Toronto, suggesting that maybe Daniel had "got caught in the wrong crowd."
Da Silva has been described as a construction labourer not previously known to police and, according to neighbours, often came home at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Det. Sgt. Savis Kyriacou told ctvtoronto.ca and that police will be relying on surveillance camera footage to help them piece together what happened.
Late Thursday night, a forensic team began working in the area, placing coloured markers on potential evidence. Police also canvassed the neighbourhood for witnesses.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Savas Kyriacou at 416-808-7385, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).
With a report from CTV Toronto's Jim Junkin
