Photo of surveillance video showing two suspects courtesy of Toronto Police
Toronto police are searching for two men believed to have hunted and randomly shot and killed a 22-year-old man on Wednesday.University student Jeremy Urbina was taking out the trash outside his north Toronto home shortly after 8 p.m. on a cold winter night when he was shot more than 10 times in the back.Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne described the act to reporters Thursday as “evil incarnate" and “one of the most callous killings that I’ve witnessed” in his 16 years working on the homicide squad.“This, ladies and gentleman, appears as though a human being was hunting another human being,” Browne said.Police have gone over “a great deal of security video” from the area, which is near Leslie and Finch. Browne described the suspects as “skulking around” for about six minutes, going into the laundromat briefly at the residential complex where Urbina lived before shooting him.Browne said it’s possible that they were there looking for someone in particular but didn’t find that person. He described Urbina as “the victim of an opportunistic killing”—perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time.Urbina, a second year integrated media student at Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), had no history with police. He lived with his parents. Browne said he was bundled up because of the cold weather and would have been difficult to identify from behind, at night, from a distance.According to Browne, there was “absolutely no interaction between Urbina and the shooter” before he was shot at. The two suspects came at Urbina “from behind, out of nowhere” and he didn’t see them coming.Police have released photos of the suspects and Browne said he would be “shocked and surprised” if someone isn’t able to recognize them. “This was a ridiculous, violent, evil act,” said Browne. “Everyone has to do their part to identify these individuals and get them off the street.” He’s urging anyone with information to contact police.Follow Anne Gaviola on Twitter.
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