The family of Toronto’s 72nd homicide victim has described Marvin Baah, 26, as a student who “loved his family and loved his friends.”
Police formally identified Baah as the victim of a Oct. 7 fatal shooting just after 8 p.m. in the Clearview Heights and Trethewey Drive area.
Det. Sgt. Tiffany Castell of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit told reporters Tuesday that she believes Baah was shot in the rear stairwell of the apartment building at 83 Clearview Heights, where there are no cameras, and ended up in the parking lot where she estimated “dozens” of other people were hanging out.
She said Baah was visiting the building at the time and was not known to police.
“I’m here to appeal to witnesses who were present at the time that Mr. Baah was shot,” said Castell, who is also investigating if Baah was targeted.
“What I know at this point is minimal. We’ve been investigating since Oct. 7 and there are very few witnesses who had come forward. There’s also minimal video coverage in that area so at this point I do not have information with regard to suspects to share and I also don’t have any confirmation about any individuals who were driving vehicles at the time who may have been involved.”
Castell says life-saving measures were attempted at the scene and during the emergency run but Baah died in hospital.
“There were many people in that parking lot,” she said. “There are many people who are aware of what happened to Mr. Baah and at this point I’m asking, I’m appealing to witnesses in our city, not only for my homicide investigation, but for Mr. Baah and Mr. Baah’s family to come forward, contact us, do the right thing, and let us know what happened to Mr. Baah in that stairwell.”
There is an encampment behind the apartment building but Castell said generally “we’ve have very minimal cooperation from witnesses.”
Castell said she hopes her appeal for witnesses works for the sake of Baah’s family.
“My concern is for Mr. Baah, justice for him, and for his family,” she said.
“I have faith in the people of Toronto. I have faith in people doing the right thing. And the people that were back there and saw what happened, that they will at this point, after doing this appeal, call us as 12 Division, or at a bare minimum, if they don’t want to give their names, that they will contact Crime Stoppers.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Toronto Police 12th division at 416-808-1200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.