‘Shattered’ mother expresses sympathy for son’s killers
Police release video of shooting of security guard in hopes of finding one more suspect
Sandra Cooke says she feels sympathy for her son’s killers.
Speaking today at a news conference in which police revealed new security footage of two additional suspects in the killing of 44-year-old security guard Dwayne McMillan, his mother said she has to feel sorry because the alternative is giving into anger. And although her family is “shattered,” she said she does not want to let anger control her.
“My grandchildren no longer have a father,” she said. “So I have to let go.”
McMillan became Toronto’s 82nd homicide victim of 2018 after he was shot and killed on the evening of Oct. 2 in an industrial plaza near York University’s Keele campus.
He had been working as a security guard for an illegal marijuana dispensary operating in the area, Toronto police Det. Paul Worden said at the news conference, adding that investigators believe he was killed in a robbery gone wrong.
Police have already arrested two teens in connection to McMillan’s death: Jahnoye Carpenter,19, and a16-year-old boy who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Both are facing a count of second-degree murder and a count of arson.
In security footage released Tuesday, Worden walked through the events of the night, pointing out two new suspects who are still outstanding.
The video shows two individuals — the 16-year-old and a second suspect who police are still looking for — approaching the dispensary first.
The 16-year-old knocks at the door while the other suspect hovers around the corner, hiding a handgun in his pocket.
Worden said it was McMillan’s job to manage the entry of individuals into the building.
After McMillan answers the door, the video shows that the suspect carrying the handgun rushes him. This is when a struggle ensued, Worden said.
From the direction of the getaway vehicle, two men then rush to the aid of their accomplices. One of these two — an individual seen carrying a rifle — is allegedly Carpenter, Worden said. Police are looking for the other man.
All four men flee towards\ their vehicle.
“Through different surveillance video we were able to locate that vehicle about 24 hours later, and it was on fire near the intersection of Jane and Shepard,” Worden said.
The marijuana dispensary wasn’t clearly advertised as such on the building, Worden said, adding police believe the suspects “had some connection previous to the shop.”
Cooke had always been worried about her son working se- curity at the dispensary. She said he knew it was “never safe, but it was a job.” She said her son — whom she described as a loving father to four boys — had been on the verge of making changes in his life. He had been thinking of leaving this job and going back to school.
The night of McMillan’s death, the would-be robbers didn’t make it farther than the vestibule of the building.
“They never got into the premises,” Worden said. “Mr. McMillan did his job.”
Police said they are releasing the footage in the hopes that someone will be able to come forward with information on the two suspects still outstanding: the man seen holding the handgun in the initial approach of the building and the unidentified man who rushes up after.
Both men wear hooded jackets or hoodies in the video. The second man has a covering over the bottom half of his face.
Forty-five people had already been killed in shootings in Toronto so far this year.
“If I went to Buffalo and bought a pair of shoes, I’m stopped at the border,” Cooke said. “I want to know how these (guns) keep getting in every day. Somebody is shot every single day in the city. Where are the guns coming from?
“A life has become nothing. Just like you can buy a gun for $1 or $100, you can take a life without any regard. So, you have to feel sorry for these fools.”