Man 'with cache of guns' arrested in 'unprovoked' killings of man and international student, police say
CBC
Toronto police have arrested a man accused in two separate "unprovoked" killings of a 21-year-old international student and 35-year-old man.
Richard Jonathan Edwin, 39, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kartik Vasudev and Elijah Eleazar Mahepath.
Police say Edwin was arrested Sunday evening and had a cache of loaded guns within reach at the time of his arrest.
"Any death is tragic, but these men were completely innocent, and their murders were absolutely random acts of violence," Police Chief James Ramer told reporters Tuesday.
Vasudev, a 21-year-old international student from India, was gunned down at Sherbourne subway station on April 7 around 5 p.m. He was transported to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, where he later died.
Two days later, Mahepath was shot several times near the intersection of Dundas Street East and George Street, east of Jarvis Street, just before 7 p.m. He also died in hospital hours later.
Police believe Edwin was a "complete stranger" to both men. Ramer also said the victims were not known to each other.
Edwin had no prior criminal record and was "lawfully" in possession of his guns, police said.
And while there is no longer a threat to public safety, Ramer said he believes there could have been more killings had the suspect not been caught.
"When, I don't know, but he had an arsenal at home," Ramer said. "Frankly, I believe this might have just been a first step."
Vasudev and Mahepath were the city's 19th and 20th homicides of the year.
Based on the "nature of the offences," Det. Sgt. Terry Browne said police were able to connect the two homicides to one another "very quickly."
Ramer says an "all-out effort" was launched to track the suspect, with the help of the Toronto police's Emergency Task Force. Edwin was found and arrested in a residence near Bloor Street West and Spadina Avenue on Sunday evening.
Ramer said he hopes the arrest will provide a "sliver of closure" for the families of the victims.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.
New poll results released by Narrative Research suggest the Progressive Conservatives are heading into Tuesday's provincial election with a commanding lead over their political rivals.
A measles outbreak in New Brunswick is set to push Canada's annual case count to the highest it's been in five years, highlighting how infectious the disease is and how low vaccination rates have allowed it to take hold, says an immunologist.