Mother seeks answers in son’s drive-by death

Andre Phoenix, 33, was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Rexdale on Aug. 15.

The mother of a man killed in a summer drive-by shooting in Rexdale begged anyone with information to come forward, saying she has been “grieving every minute, every second, every day” with “no answers.”

Andre Phoenix, 33, was shot and killed Aug. 15 as he was heading to a plaza near Martin Grove Rd. and John Garland Blvd.

“I’m pleading, and I’m begging, and I’m asking the public, please, if there’s anyone out there that saw something, that knows something, please call the police or Crime Stoppers,” Novelette Phoenix said in an emotional plea on Wednesday at a news conference.

“I need justice for my son. He did not deserve what happened to him.”

The family is “devastated,” Phoenix said. “We are grieving every minute, every second of every day.”

The night of the shooting, she said she got a phone call from Andre saying, “‘Mom, I’ve been shot.’ ”

Later, in the hospital, she received “the worst news that anyone could have ever told me as a parent,” she said. “That my son, my best friend, is dead.”

Phoenix was a hard-working father to an infant daughter, his “pride and joy,” his mother said.

Police updated the public on the investigation at the news conference.

After an “exhaustive video canvas,” police said they have identified a new suspect vehicle in the shooting.

Police are searching for a white, newer-model, four-door Mazda 3 that was seen circling the parking lot Phoenix was in when he was shot.

Homicide Det. Brandon Price said the car pulled up to Phoenix shortly before the shooting and then fled west.

There are two or more suspects, along with the driver of the vehicle.

Police have not yet released a potential motive.

Police previously announced that they were looking for a light-coloured, four-door sedan.