Toronto man tops list of Canada’s most wanted
$100,000 offered for tips in search for suspect in 2023 shooting
A 35-year-old Toronto man accused of fatally shooting a “brave” and “loyal” 29-year-old construction engineer has been named Canada’s most wanted fugitive.
Michael Bebee is wanted for the murder of Shamar Powell-Flowers last summer near Danforth and Carlaw avenues.
At a news conference on Tuesday, police announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to Bebee’s capture.
He now tops the updated list of the country’s 25 most wanted fugitives in the Bolo Program, which stands for “be on the lookout” and amplifies the search for priority suspects identified by Canadian police services.
In a dramatic reveal Tuesday, Bolo director Max Langlois and Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw unveiled $1 million in total rewards in stacks of cash laid out on a table at the Toronto Police Headquarters.
“One of the most common things I’ve heard over the years is, ‘Show me the money.’ Today, we show you the money: one million in rewards,”
Langlois said of the money available to help various Canadian police services to capture the 25 suspects.
“This has never been done and is unprecedented,” he added.
Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Sean Sportun said information can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers.
“Anonymity does not end with your successful tip,” he noted. “You will remain anonymous even as you collect your cash reward.”
In a statement, Powell-Flowers’s family described him as a loving man who was “a remarkable light.” He was a “brave, loyal, ambitious, highly intelligent and hardworking construction engineer, a generous and kind man with a smile that lit up the universe,” they wrote.
Directly addressing those who may know where Bebee is, they said: “Shamar would have given you the benefit of the doubt, so we are trying the same. Maybe you’ve been scared. Maybe you didn’t realize our extraordinary pain. Maybe you thought this arrest wouldn’t matter. But here we are, nine months later, locked in place, drowning in despair and pleading for someone to release us from this agony.”
Demkiw said at the time of Powell-Flowers’s murder, Bebee was under a gun prohibition for his part in another Toronto shooting in 2019.
Langlois noted the rows of cash before reporters Tuesday are not funded by taxpayer dollars nor police money, they’re from the Bolo Program, which is funded by a private foundation started in 2006 by GardaWorld CEO Stephan Crétier.
Among the top five was also Toronto man Cristian Cuxum — who was on last year’s most-wanted list and who remains wanted for second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for the fatal attack on referee Edwin Farley Alvarado Quintero, 49, of Woodbridge during a match at North York’s La Liga Sports Complex in October 2022.
The reward for a tip leading to Cuxum’s arrest is also $100,000.
“But perhaps seeing the cash here on this table, with the right people watching in the right circumstances, will help,” Demkiw said.
Another six-figure reward was jointly announced Tuesday by York Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police in the 2022 highprofile kidnapping and presumed murder case of Elnaz Hajtamiri, who has not been found. The two police services are offering $100,000 for information on Hajtamiri’s whereabouts.
Toronto man Deshawn Davis, a suspect wanted for his involvement in Hajtamiri’s abduction, is No. 11 on the updated Bolo list.
Toronto fugitives make up a quarter of the list.
Also listed are:
■ Convicted firearms trafficker Kamar Cunningham, who allegedly did not appear for his sentencing hearing in 2020 while released on bail. Police are offering up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest.
■ Mohamed Abdullahi, who is wanted for the July 2023 murder of Mohamed Ahmed, 36, which Toronto police previously said was “not a random shooting.”
■ Kiarash Parzham, who is wanted on first-degree murder charges for the 2022 killing of 28-year-old Kian Hoseyni. Police are offering up to $50,000.
■ And Jabreel Elmi, who is wanted on first-degree murder charges for the 2021 murder of 27-year-old Thane Murray.
Also on Tuesday, Peel police announced its partnership with Bolo by placing its first suspect on the national list with a reward of up to $50,000: Dharam Dhaliwal is wanted on first-degree murder charges for the shooting of 21-year-old Pawanpreet Kaur from Brampton.