Police probe role of tow truck turf war in death
Etobicoke man found shot in vehicle outside apartment complex
Toronto police are investigating whether an ongoing turf war played a role in the killing of a 23-year-old man who was found shot inside a tow truck in Etobicoke Thursday evening.
The body of Hashim Kinani, 23, of Toronto was found outside an apartment complex in the Panama Court and Kipling Avenue area at 7:42 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police were called after reports of multiple gunshots.
On Friday late in the evening, Toronto police announced they were seeking two suspects, both of whom are wanted for first-degree murder and attempted murder. One of the suspects is a 17-year-old boy.
Police said investigators were probing whether the shooting is connected to a spate of recent violence in the fiercely competitive tow truck industry.
The tow truck industry in southern Ontario has been hit with waves of violence over the past year and this has not been blunted by the social isolation brought about by COVID-19, even though there are fewer drivers on the road and fewer accidents.
And in another incident overnight, police said officers were investigating a tow truck fire that happened shortly before 1 a.m. at the rear of a business near Midwest Road and Midland Avenue in Scarborough.
At least some of the violence stems from a clash between violent industry newcomers and well-established groups with criminal ties in the auto body shop trade, sources say.
> Tow trucks came under gunfire or were set ablaze three times in the first week of February in the GTA.
> At 1:45 a.m. on Feb 1., a man was shot in the legs as he sat in a parked tow truck beside the Steeles Avenue ramp to Highway 404. The woman who sat beside him was not hit. He was treated in hospital and released.
> On Feb. 3, York Regional Police reported that a tow truck was found ablaze in a parking lot near 19th Avenue and Highway 404. The fire was “intentionally set,” police said.
> On Feb. 4, York Regional Police reported another tow truck had been deliberately set ablaze, this time in the Hartwell Way and William Graham Drive area in Aurora.
> In January, York Regional Police reported an empty gas container lay nearby after a tow truck was set ablaze in a driveway, also in Aurora.
> On the weekend before Christmas last year, there were three tow truck fires in York Region and another three in Toronto and one in Peel Region.
> On Dec.17 in Hamilton, three tow trucks were destroyed after they were set on fire overnight.
> And on Dec. 8, at least three bullets were fired at tow truck drivers in York Region at Highway 404 and Major Mackenzie Drive East. No one was hit.
Kinani is Toronto’s 27th victim of homicide in 2020.