Calgary father makes emotional plea to son suspected in shooting
Man sought by police on suspicion of murder may have drowned
The worried father of a 23- yearold Calgary man wanted by London police investigating the death of a teenager shot while trying to recover his cellphone says he’s appealing to God to keep his son alive and to his son to turn himself in.
On Thursday, authorities were searching the Rideau River in Ottawa for any trace of a man whom officers saw disappear below the surface Wednesday night.
Police are reportedly probing the possibility the man who may have drowned is Muhab Sultanaly Sultan, the man being sought by London police on suspicion of second- degree murder in the death of Jeremy Cook, 18.
Sultan Sultan, the 23- year- old’s father, told The London Free Press he’s appealing to God to keep his son alive and to his son to turn himself in.
“I feel terrible. I am shaking. I am crying. I am praying to God that this person is not Muhab,” Sultan said about the man Ottawa police are seeking.
“Please, Muhab, if you read this, listen to me. I love you and I will always love you forever if you did this or not. I will get you the best lawyer in the land and we will walk hand- in- hand into the police station.”
Sultan said he hadn’t learned anything from Ottawa police beyond what was being reported in the news.
His son might never turn himself in to police on his own, because he spent more than a year in jail in London on two sets of charges — one for weapons and trafficking offences, and one for sexual assault — that were later dropped, Sultan said in a series of short phone interviews from Calgary.
“He lost this time of his life for nothing.”
Sultan said he’s worried his son won’t tell the truth because he doesn’t want to be considered a rat.
All the time he was in jail in 2011 and 2012, he never said a word to police about who really did the crimes. “But this is a huge crime,” he said, appealing again for his son to come forward.
“This is a nightmare for my family,” Sultan said, acknowledging the pain of the family of Cook, the former Brampton, Ont., teenager who moved to London to go to school and was shot June 14 while trying to retrieve his lost cellphone.
“To the family, I feel deeply, deeply sorry. Our hearts go with them. We have deep sincere sorrow for them.”
Sultan Sultan immigrated to Canada from Sudan in 1991 and with his wife raised two sons and a daughter in London.
An attempt to start a limousine business in 2002 raised the ire of other London cab companies and led to a court battle, which he won, but later a tough city bylaw put his company out of business.
After failing to get his paralegal licence in 2011, Sultan moved to Alberta. His son Muhab moved west as well, and had been doing well in Calgary, building a business as a mover when he decided to return to London to start another company fixing vehicle windshields, Sultan said.
“He moved to London only a few days before this happened. He is a very hard- working young man.”
Sultan appealed as well to the other men involved in the incident that left Jeremy Cook dead, to come forward.
“Be a man and tell the truth. Muhab is not a murderer. He would never do this. He is a very loving man with a big heart.”