‘Are you guys OK?’
Shelter worker thought a rock had hit her car, community official says
Her last words were directed at friends who were with her. Profiles of the victims of weekend gun violence,
When the shot was fired, Jenas Nyarko and her friends thought a rock had hit the car they were sitting in.
Nyarko asked, “Are you guys OK? Something hit our car,” said Emmanuel Duodo, president of the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario, who has been in touch with the friends. Nyarko was struck by the bullet. “That was the last thing she said: ‘Are you guys OK?’ And that was it.”
Nyarko was one of five people killed during the first weekend of summer in a rash of violence across the city.
Nyarko, 31, was sitting in the back of a car outside her apartment after returning from a funeral with three friends when another car — described as a grey or silver SUV — drove by and a passenger in it fired a single shot that struck her. The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. on Sunday on Replin Rd., near Lawrence Ave. W. and Allen Rd.
She was shot in the chest and rushed to hospital, where she died.
Police say the SUV fled, and additional shots were fired elsewhere.
“This is the tragic end of a young woman who was just go- ing about, living her life,” Duodo said.
Nyarko immigrated to Canada in 2001from Ghana. Her parents still live abroad, but Nyarko has other family members in Toronto, Duodo said.
He described Nyarko, who worked in a shelter, as someone who “loved life” and was loved by the community.
Duodo said the three friends who were in the car with Nyarko are “completely distraught.”
“They can’t believe it. They are in a state of shock.”
An acquaintance of Nyarko, Obie Agyeman-Koree, said she loved people and loved to dress up and go out.
“She was that girl, you know, that girl anybody would like to have as a friend, because she would be there for you when you needed her,” he said.
Agyeman-Koree said Nyarko wasn’t married, had no children, and maintained a fashion blog.
“Fashionista-type girl,” he said. “Loved life. Loved God.”
Police say Nyarko was not being targeted.
“There’s nothing in Jenas’s past which would indicate that she could be the intended target of a shooting,” said Det. David Dickinson in a news conference Sunday.
“This is the tragic end of a young woman who was just going about, living her life.” EMMANUEL DUODO PRESIDENT, GHANAIAN CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO
“It would appear this is a case of individuals coming from one neighbourhood into another and shooting the first person they see.”
Around the same time Nyarko was shot, just after 2 a.m. Sunday, police responded to another scene where they said multiple shots were fired into a home in Etobicoke. Officers found two male victims with gunshot wounds. Patrick McKenna, 20, and Dalbert Allison, 40, both of Toronto, were killed.
In a separate incident, a man, whose name has not yet been released, was injured in a “physical altercation” Saturday afternoon and died. The other man involved in the altercation, which took place near Martin Grove Rd. and John Garland Blvd. in Etobicoke, fled. Joseph Whittick, a 30-year-old man from Toronto, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Police are also investigating after an overnight shooting in the city’s downtown core left one man dead.
Toronto paramedics responded to a call around 2:30 a.m. Monday at Sherbourne St. and Dundas St. E.
The victim, described as being in his 30s or 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene, paramedics say.
No information has been released about possible suspects and the homicide unit is investigating at the scene.
Speaking to reporters, Det. Rob Choe said that the call police received indicated gunshots were heard.
The scene was in a third-floor apartment unit.
The homicide unit is currently reviewing video footage from inside the residential complex at 257 Sherbourne St.