FIGHT MAY HAVE LED TO SHOOTING
Hamilton police have offered details, suspect description in Aug. 8 shooting //
Hamilton police believe Michael Campbell may not have been the intended target when a man opened fire on a group of people standing outside a bar in August.
The 34-year-old Brampton man was killed and three others were injured in the Aug. 8 shooting, which happened around 1:30 a.m. on East Avenue North, just north of King Street East.
It’s unclear to police which one of the three men shot were the intended target, said Staff Sgt. Dave Oleniuk, of the major crime unit. A woman at the scene was not the target.
“Campbell’s last act was to push her out of the way,” he said.
The shooting may have been the result of a fight that happened inside the bar Sheila’s Place, across from the murder scene, earlier that night around 11:30 p.m.
Oleniuk said police are still investigating what the fight was about, but it was physical and initially involved two men, with about a dozen others intervening and breaking it up. Campbell wasn’t one of the two directly involved in the fight, but he had a loose association with a number of people in the bar that night. Initially police were hampered by a lack of co-operation from witnesses, but more than a month later major crime unit detectives finally have enough information to release a description of the suspected shooter.
He’s described as a black man, between five-foot-eight and sixfoot, wearing all black clothing, including a hoodie and shorts that revealed very skinny legs (described by a witness as “chicken legs”).
Police have also released photos and a video of a grey or silver 2016 to 2018 Hyundai Tucson believed to be involved in the shooting, possibly as the shooter’s getaway car.
The owner of that silver or grey car may not have been directly involved in the shooting, but would have “vital information” that police need. This car initially caught police attention because it was captured on surveillance in the area circling the block before the murder, Oleniuk said.
Campbell had a brother and friends in Hamilton and was familiar with the area.
The bar’s owner, Sheila Anglin, previously told the Spectator that she was going through receipts in her back office after the bar had closed that night when she heard the loud “bang, bang, bang, bang” of gunfire just outside her door. When she
looked outside Campbell was laying on the sidewalk and a woman who had run into an alley, ran out and collapsed. Witness also heard screeching tires as vehicles fled — two other victims were driven to hospital, not by ambulance. Anglin has 16 cameras on the outside of her bar and its attached Caribbean restaurant, Ellis Kitchen, which she shared with police.
At the time Campbell’s murder marked the 15th shooting in Hamilton this year. The count is now at 22. Since his death there have been two other fatal shootings
in the city. Police have not seized a murder weapon, but say it was a handgun. From evidence at the scene police know the calibre and the number of shots fired, but Oleniuk declined to share those detail.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Ross Johnson of the major crime unit at 905-546-3827. To remain anonymous contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or crimestoppershamilton.com