Friends mourn father shot dead behind mall
John Trevor Paul was killed hours before 33rd birthday at North York shopping centre
John Trevor Paul was supposed to spend Saturday celebrating his 33rd birthday, surrounded by his young children and a legion of friends and family.
Instead, Paul’s loved ones spent the afternoon — cool but bright, perfect for a celebration — in mourning. Paul was shot in the chest Friday night behind Sheridan Mall, the second victim of a fatal shooting at the North York mall in the past month.
“Today I was supposed to come and meet him on the block and we were supposed to play our music and enjoy ourselves before the summer ends,” said one of Paul’s close friends, 40-year-old John Charlemagne. “He’s not there today. It’s hurting me and it’s hurting everybody.”
Paul was hanging out with friends in the parking lot behind the mall at Jane St. and Wilson Ave. just before 8 p.m. Friday, listening to music — something he did all the time, Charlemange said — when a vehicle approached the group.
Police said there was an “altercation” (Charlemange said he believes it was a robbery, but police wouldn’t confirm that account). At the end of it, Paul was left with life-threatening injuries. He later died in hospital.
Paul was known in the neighbourhood for his car, a slick black Acura that was his pride and joy. Charlemagne said he believes that car is also what made Paul a target, as the victim had no enemies he knew of.
“He’s a loving kid . . . He took care of his kids, his bills, whatever,” Charlemagne said. “What did they get from him when they killed him? Two chains?”
Investigators said they’re searching for four suspects — one who stayed in the car, and three others who got out. Police released surveillance images Saturday of a silver truck and three young male suspects, two in grey hoodies, one in a black hoodie.
The shooting happened a month after Jovane Clarke, 22, was shot and killed inside the same mall as shoppers scurried for safety. Police said Clarke was being pursued by four people, two of whom opened fire.
Two days later, on Sept. 2, 44-yearold Awad Hurre, was shot and killed in an apartment complex at Tandridge Cres. and Arcot Blvd., not far from the mall. Police said they were looking for links between the two fatal shootings as Clarke also lived in that same apartment building,
Toronto police Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said it’s too early in the investigation to say whether the latest incident is related to the two previous shootings. However, police are looking into all possibilities.
Charlemagne said it’s the “same set of people doing everything,” saying his friend’s killers are “cowards.”
“You never know when they’re going to hit, who they’re going to hit,” he said through tears. “We’re just praying for nothing to happen again so the police can get them off the streets.”
The front end of the mall was bustling, filled with shoppers going to and from their cars with arms full of bags. At the back end, however, about 30 of Paul’s friends stood, many weeping as they set up a memorial in the parking lot where he was shot.
Foil balloons emblazoned with birthday wishes drifted in the breeze as mourners lay roses beneath them and wrote messages on a photo of Paul attached to a tree.
“He doesn’t deal with anything crooked,” Charlemagne said, shaking his head. “He doesn’t have a criminal record. This is a good person. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Paul is Toronto’s 43rd homicide victim of 2017.