Police seek cabbies’ help in stabbing

Police are asking cab drivers to help their investigation into the fatal stabbing of a 19-yearold man after an unofficial pop-up rave early Sunday morning amid the downtown bustle of Nuit blanche.

rameez Khalid of Toronto was stabbed to death in the richmond and york Streets area around 2 a.m., shortly after a fight at the unsanctioned dance party at university Avenue and Queen Street West.

The fight was reportedly stopped by friends and Mr. Khalid left the party with one other person and walked to richmond and york streets, said detective Scott Whittemore of the homicide squad.

“Within a couple of minutes, five to six suspects ended up at the same area,” said det. Whittemore.

Mr. Khalid was stabbed several moments later. He was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The suspects fled on foot but police are trying to find out whether they got on to a streetcar or a subway, or flagged a cab.

“We don’t know how they left; we’re just trying to surmise right now,” said det. Whittemore. “That’s why we’re trying to appeal to the people with the cabs.”

Meanwhile, det. Whittemore said police are slowly going through surveillance footage of the incident, but the process has been slow. “I was hoping to have something by now,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands of event-goers flooded this year’s all-night art crawl. Though city planners have yet to release official numbers, over a million people attended the event last year, and this year’s event was predicted to be equally crowded.