Police say victim stabbed ‘not too far’ from gas station
City’s 3rd homicide victim for 2017 came from Mississauga
Hayder Qasim-Rushdi was not alone when he drove to Hamilton.
But he was solo when he pulled into a Stoney Creek Mountain gas station early Friday morning bleeding to death from a stab wound to his neck.
Police say the killer is an acquaintance of the 33-year-old Mississauga man. And the fatal injury was inflicted “not too far” from the Pioneer gas station the victim drove to before collapsing.
Hamilton police have not yet made any arrests, yet seem confident there is no threat to public safety.
Details of Hamilton’s third murder of the year are emerging slowly from the homicide unit, which took over the case Saturday night when it became apparent Hayder would not survive.
He died at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday with family at his hospital bed.
Little is known about Hayder. Det. Sgt. Dave Oleniuk, who met with his family Tuesday morning, says Hayder is single and has no children that his relatives are aware of.
Oleniuk would not say much more than that.
He would not say why Hayder came to Hamilton, driving a car that is registered to a family member.
He would also not elaborate on who was with him, except to say “this is not a random stranger situation.” Nor would he say where exactly the stabbing took place.
“It wasn’t in a public place,” he did say. “It was in a rural area, not too far from the gas station.”
The Pioneer station is on Upper Centennial Parkway, between Mud Street and Green Mountain Road. It is isolated, surrounded by unlit fields.
Hayder pulled up there at 2:30 a.m. Friday, got out, went inside, and then collapsed in front of a male employee and a customer. They tried to help him and called 911.
“He stumbles in and he’s covered in blood,” Oleniuk has said.
An autopsy Monday determined his cause of death was a stab wound to the neck.
Identifying Hayder was difficult and police were unable to interview him. It also took time to notify next of kin of his death, Oleniuk said, because they were scattered across the country and around the world.
Last week, police were just 3 km away from the gas station, on Green Mountain Road, investigating two separate incidents of shots being fired at a house there.
The first time it happened was April 17 at 4:30 a.m. and then again on April 22 at 11 p.m.
Det. Trevor Bland, who is in charge of that case, says the shootings did not appear to be “random” and the investigation is ongoing.
He also says he has not spoken with the homicide unit about any possible connections between the murder and the shootings.
Anyone with information regarding the shootings can call Det. Bland at 905-546-2917.
Anyone with information regarding the homicide is asked to called Det. Ross Johnson at 905526-3827 or Crime Stoppers at 1800-222-8477.
Susan Clairmont’s commentary appears regularly in The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com 905-526-3539 | @susanclairmont