By: Jackie Hong Staff Reporter, Holly Honderich Geoffrey Vendeville Published on Sun Aug 09 2015
The Toronto police Homicide Squad is investigating after a man was fatally shot in front of a downtown hotel early Sunday.
Police have identified the victim as 27-year-old Kabil Abdulkhadir.
Toronto police and paramedics were called to the Dundas St. W. and Bay St. area around 2:45 a.m. after reports of gunshots.
Paramedics found a man with gunshot wounds in front of the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel on 525 Bay St. He was pronounced dead on scene.
Bay St. was closed between Dundas St. W. and Queen St. W. for investigation for most of the morning, before being re-opened at around 1:30 p.m.
Emergency Task Force (ETF) officers, the tactical unit of the Toronto Police, could be seen inside the hotel, as well as officers with vests marked “Gang Unit.” A group of ETF officers left the building just before 9 a.m.
Speaking to media just after 11 a.m., Detective-Sergeant Joyce Schertzer explained that the investigation is “really at the beginning stages.”
Det. Schertzer said that police would await the post-mortem investigation to determine the “cause and manner of death” of the victim.
No suspects have been arrested. Det. Schertzer said that police have not yet confirmed a “concrete suspect description.” Due to reports of a “series” of gunshots, Det. Schertzer said it is possible that there were multiple shooters.
“I am not going to assume there was only one firearm,” she said.
Police have conducted several interviews with hotel guests and other witnesses, and intend to conduct a witness and video canvass throughout the Bay and Dundas area.
Det. Schertzer urged all witnesses to contact police with any information they may have.
Hotel guests can leave the Marriott on foot, but not by car. Guest who have exited the hotel are not allowed to re-enter and check-in is suspended until further notice from police.
“The safety and security of our guests and employees is a top priority,” said Felicia McLemore, a spokeswoman for Marriott International, in an email to the Star. She added that the staff is co-operating with investigators.
Hotel guests barred from entry have been waiting outside the Marriott for hours, wrapped in blankets and sheets provided by the hotel.
Several said they could not understand why they were not allowed to enter when they could see guests inside, freely moving around and eating breakfast inside the hotel’s dining room.
Ahmad Tahir, who is visiting Toronto with his wife and two children from Los Angeles, went out last night with his family. When they returned to the Marriott at approximately 3 a.m., they were refused entry.
Tahir approached a police officer in plain clothes.
“I asked them how bad it could be when there’s people inside … Why can’t I take my kids in?” Tahir said.
“And they said, ‘Well, would you like your kids to be in there with a gunman?”
An officer eventually escorted Tahir and his family back inside. He later went outside to get his van and has not been allowed to re-enter the hotel.
Tahir said that around 60 guests had been waiting at the Marriott’s south side entrance, and that a few dozen still remain.
“It’s chaos,” he said.
Another guest of the hotel, Bill Martin an engineer from Cincinnati, said he returned from a wedding around 1:30 a.m. At around 2:45, he said he heard “a pop, pop, pop.”
“I’m a shooter so I understand guns, and so I thought maybe it was gunfire.”
Police in the hallway of the hotel confirmed what he had heard later that morning. “We felt really safe in Toronto,” he said.
Erin Grandy, an 18-year-old student at Memorial University, said she was in the hallway of the 11th floor early Sunday morning when another guest at the hotel told her that there had been a shooting outside.
“She wasn’t sure if the shooter had come inside the hotel,” Grandy said. “We were terrified. We didn’t think it was real at first. We thought she was joking, trying to make us quiet down or something. We went back to our room, real quick.”
Grandy and her friend Caitlin Bertrand, both from Oakville, stayed at the Marriott overnight to celebrate their friend’s 19th birthday.
“It’s weird for something like this to happen so close to home,” Grandy said.
https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015 ... hotel.html
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