Police name slain teen

Fatally shot on busy sidewalk Police still looking into 66th homicide

A teenager gunned down in broad daylight on a busy strip of Eglinton Ave. W. was identified yesterday as Jamal Michael Hemmings. He was 17, unemployed, the father of a 2- month- old son and “ known to police,” Det. Sgt. Mario Di Tommaso told reporters without giving specifics. He gave the dead teen’s address only as “ somewhere in downtown Toronto.”

Police are still piecing together what happened but said Hemmings was shot once just before 4 p. m. Wednesday in or near a parking lot on the south side of Eglinton Ave., just west of Oakwood Ave. He fled east on foot, Di Tommaso said, but collapsed a couple of blocks away at Marlee Ave., a short block north of Eglinton at Livingston Rd. Police called to the scene found Hemmings unconscious. He was pronounced dead in hospital. Hemmings is the city’s 46th shooting death this year and 66th homicide.

“ He was with a friend,” the detective said of the victim.

“We’ve spoken to the friend and are trying to corroborate his story.” What that story was, police wouldn’t say — only that investigators are trying to trace Hemmings’s movements of Tuesday and Wednesday. Police would not speculate on a motive in the killing. An old red or burgundy fourdoor vehicle, possibly a Pontiac, was seen speeding eastbound from the parking lot after the shooting and running a red light, Di Tommaso also said.