SRIKANTHAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-02 published
Arrest in first 2007 homicide
Photos By Carlos
OSORIO / Toronto Star
Police said Jean
SPRINGER was shot in the face after answering
the door at her home on Snowball Cres. near Neilson Rd. and Sheppard
Ave. E. SPRINGER, who was in her 60s, was pronounced dead at
hospital. The slaying is Toronto's first homicide of 2007.
Victim one of four hit by gunshots as 2007 gets off to a violent
start in Toronto
By Isabel TEOTONIO,
Joanna
SMITH and Thulasi
SRIKANTHAN, Staff
Reporters
It is January 2, only two days into the New Year, and police
are already busy investigating a string of shootings throughout
the city that left one woman dead and three other people injured.
A man arrested in connection with Toronto's first homicide of
2007 appeared in a Scarborough courthouse this morning wearing
an orange jumpsuit and looking dishevelled.
Altaf IBRAHIM, 26, made a brief court appearance after a lengthy
delay. He is charged with first-degree murder. Also in the courtroom
were three of his male relatives, but they refused to speak with
reporters.
Toronto police arrested the man after the shooting death Monday
of Jean SPRINGER, 60, in her Malvern home around 2: 30 p.m.
SPRINGER was shot in the face and killed when she opened the
door of her home to a caller, believed to be a friend of her
son's.
During the wee hours of this morning, another woman was shot,
reportedly in the face, in an Etobicoke high-rise.
Emergency crews were called to the 20th floor of the building
on Weston Rd. near Lawrence Ave. W. at about 1 a.m., where they
found a woman, about 20 years old, suffering from gunshot wounds,
police said.
Police would not comment on the extent of her injuries, but said
the homicide squad has been called in to monitor the case. She
is in hospital and fighting for her life.
Investigators do not have a suspect at this time and the victim's
name is being withheld until her family has been notified, police
said.
A couple of hours later, around 3: 20 a.m., two men were shot
in the leg as doormen were in the process of kicking them out
of a downtown Toronto nightclub.
Police are investigating if one of the victims was the shooter
and if a doorman was the intended target.
One shooting victim is 19 and the other is around the same age.
Police were called to the Kool Haus, which is part of The Guvernment
entertainment complex on Queens Quay E. at Lower Jarvis Street,
after shots rang out near the entrance to the club, where a private
event was being held.
The two men, who are Friends, were part of a larger group being
ejected by security because of a fight that had broken out. Gunfire
erupted just outside the Jarvis St. entrance.
One victim tried to flee in a taxi, but moments later it was
stopped by police. The other was found at the scene.
Each was transported with non-life threatening injuries to hospital,
where they are currently under police watch.
Charges have not been laid against the men.
Anyone with information is asked to call 416-222-8477.
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SRIKANTHAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-03 published
A knock, and then a shot
A quiet afternoon preparing to entertain shattered by a visitor
on New Year's Day
By Dale Anne
FREED,
Staff
Reporter with files from Thulasi
SRIKANTHAN
and Betsy POWELL
It was New Year's Day. And the fragrant smells of cow-heel soup,
kingfish and chicken wafted through the house when Arden-Ray
SPRINGER heard the knock at the front door.
"Answer the door, Jean," he called up from the basement. He thought
guests were arriving early for a family party.
Instead, he heard a man's voice. "Is Anton here?"
"No, he's got his own place now," he heard his wife say.
"Is Anwele here?"
Jean called her son. It was the last time he heard her voice.
Then he heard a bang.
"That's a gunshot," he thought. "What's a gunshot doing in my
house?"
Arden-Ray ran upstairs, just as a young man was leaving. He turned
to the foyer and saw his wife lying near the kitchen, a gunshot
wound to her temple.
"She's lying in a pool of blood. She never saw it coming, that's
the saving grace. There was no frozen fear on her face."
Then the oldest son, Anwele-Ray, 32, came running down the stairs.
He had recognized the voice at the door. It was a friend of his
28-year-old brother, his father said.
"I opened the door. There he was, he was pointing a gun at me.
I pushed Anwele to the left and I fell to the right," he said.
"It was a handgun."
The man put his gun away as neighbours started to gather outside
the house on Snowball Cres., near Markham Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E.
"Get a licence plate," the father yelled out as he ran to tend
to his 60-year-old wife.
"She looked so peaceful like she was sleeping," he said. "The
blood is so bright red.
"I'm screaming. I know she's dead," he said.
"Anton isn't there, so he shot Jean."
His son got a partial licence plate and so did the neighbours.
But with all the support he got that terrible afternoon, Arden-Ray,
59, couldn't thank one homicide detective enough.
"Dan SHEPPARD did an excellent job. And he got massive cooperation
from the community," said a grateful Springer.
"I'd like to reiterate there is no drug activity and no gangs
involved in this killing," said Det.
SHEPPARD.
At a news conference at police headquarters yesterday, homicide
Det. Gary GRINTON said, "It's shocking when you have what I believe
is a truly innocent woman who was… just going about her business,
was not in an area that would be known for violence.
"She was in her home, that's where we're all supposed to be safe."
But he wouldn't comment on whether the accused was, in the parlance
of police, an "emotionally disturbed person."
But a source said police are investigating whether the man had
a history of mental illness.
Altaf IBRAHIM, 26, was arrested at his home near Scarborough
Golf Club Rd. and Brimorton Doctor at 2 a.m. yesterday and charged
with first-degree murder.
He lived alone in a house divided into apartments.
A dishevelled and bearded
IBRAHIM appeared in a Scarborough courthouse
yesterday, wearing an orange jumpsuit. Three of his male relatives
watched anxiously from the back row as two police officers escorted
IBRAHIM in handcuffs into the courtroom, which was packed with
media.
His next court appearance is scheduled for next Tuesday.
Last night in his house, Arden-Ray
SPRINGER was still trying
to cope with his loss. Police had finally let him cross the yellow
police tape to get some clothes before he went to a memorial
service at the Malvern Methodist Church, the same church where
Jean was an elder and a prayer co-ordinator.
At the memorial service, hundreds of teary-eyed mourners remembered
Jean SPRINGER, who had taken part in the women's ministry and
had regularly led prayer time.
"Today we mourn her loss, but our faith calls on us to forgive
others and God has in Christ forgiven us," said Marlon
MITCHELL,
a youth pastor for the church.
Jean, who worked freelance in the accounting field, devoted her
life to Malvern Methodist, a church her husband had even helped
paint in his off-hours while his wife tended to church matters,
said Arden-Ray, a management marketing consultant.
A funeral is expected to be held Saturday at Malvern Methodist
Church.
They had been sweethearts since the mid-1960s when they were
in their teens.
Both were from Trinidad. He met his future wife on a Caribbean
cruise ship.
She'd just graduated from teacher's college. And
SPRINGER's mother
was a stewardess on the ship and his aunt knew Jean's family.
So they arranged for the two to meet.
SPRINGER became the unofficial tour guide for the group of prim
young ladies on vacation.
"Jean and I connected. It was love before first sight. It was
spiritual," he said.
After the two moved to Canada and got married more than three
decades ago, she taught part-time at grade school and studied
accounting at the University of Toronto.
She eventually moved into accounting, he said.
The holidays have all seemed to blur together for Arden-Ray.
New Year's Day was his wife's turn to host more than 20 members
of the family at the Scarborough home where they have lived for
about 28 years.
The couple had spent Christmas and Boxing Day with her two sisters
Willie and Carol. And New Year's was reserved for Jean. It was
tradition.
Last night, as he looked back on that day, he wished he had never
asked her to open that door -- but he bore no malice
"We're devastated, not angry. We do not want revenge, just justice,"
her husband said.
"She was known as Auntie Jean to everybody," he said.
"She was one of the most beautiful people in the world."
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SRIKANTHAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-07 published
Hundreds mourn 2007's first homicide victim
Family members comfort each other after the funeral of Jean
SPRINGER,
killed when she opened her front door on New Year's Day. Vince
TALOTTA / Toronto Star
By Thulasi
SRIKANTHAN,
Staff▼
Reporter▼
In the cold spitting rain, hundreds of mourners gathered at a
Scarborough church to pay their respects to Jean
SPRINGER,
Toronto's
first homicide victim of 2007.
Row upon row was packed with teary-eyed mourners at Morningstar
Christian Fellowship, who prayed and remembered the 60-year-old
as a kind and loving mother of two.
"She was selfless," said her friend, Judy
SUTHERLAND, as she
stood in the cold after the service. "We will miss her but we
will celebrate her life."
SPRINGER was shot to death shortly after she opened her door
on New Year's Day.
Altaf IBRAHIM, 26, was arrested in connection with the shooting.
He is believed to have been a friend of one of
SPRINGER's sons.
At the church yesterday, family members hugged each other as
they waited in the cold and rain, watching the casket being loaded
into the hearse.
Many wiped away tears as they left the service where two photo
collages were on display, filled with pictures of
SPRINGER through
the years, from her childhood days -- to dancing with her husband,
Arden-Ray.
A friend, Judy
INGRID, said
SPRINGER lived her life in a way
that inspired others to want to "model our life after her."
With her warmth, faith and her smile, Ingrid said
SPRINGER drew
many to her.
"From this turnout, you can see."
SPRINGER was born February 9, 1948 to Alva and Gwendolyn
REID
in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. As a young girl, she
shone academically.
Eventually, her academic aptitude led her to win a scholarship
to Bishop Anstey High School.
In the years following, she went to Trinidad's Mausica Teachers'
College where she graduated with a teacher's diploma.
After meeting and marrying her husband, she moved to Canada where
she became a bookkeeper and accountant after teaching for a few
years.
In Canada, she raised her two sons, Anton and Anwelle.
SPRINGER was also well known in her community as a woman with
a strong Christian faith. She often led prayers and took part
in the women's ministry at her local church.
"She was a very inspiring lady," said Sandra
MILLER, another
friend who had come to pay her respects.
A viewing for Friends and family was also held yesterday at Ogden
Funeral Home.
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SRIKANTHAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-07 published
Head-on collision kills 2 teens, police officer
Van carrying teens crossed into oncoming lane on Major Mackenzie
Drive, crashing into off-duty York Region police officer's car
early yesterday
By Thulasi
SRIKANTHAN,
Staff▲
Reporter▲ with files from Meghan
WATERS and Nick
KYONKA
Every
Christmas,
York Region police officer Davis
AHLOWALIA would
buy and gift-wrap hundreds of boxes of chocolates, then drive
to Nathan Phillips Square to hand them out to the homeless.
It was typical behaviour for the 28-year-old police officer,
who helped raise funds for an orphanage in Jamaica and worked
to feed the poor in Calcutta.
But yesterday, the man who worked hard to build a better life
for others was killed in a head-on collision after a van travelling
in the opposite direction crossed into his lane.
Two teenage boys from the van were also killed in the accident,
near Major Mackenzie and Pine Valley Drives in Vaughan. A third
passenger in the van is in critical condition at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Police yesterday tentatively identified
AHLOWALIA.
One of the
vehicles was registered in his name.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet because he is just so full of life
and I can't imagine that would be taken away so quickly," said
his sister-in-law Alisia
D'SILVA. "He is one of the pillars of
this family. It's going to be so quiet in this house. He has
always been so full of life, he walks into the door and you know
he's there 'cause he is always laughing."
Police remembered
AHLOWALIA as a humanitarian with a warm heart.
"This is truly a tragedy that someone so young with so much to
give is gone," said York Police Chief Armand LA
BARGE.
In the last few hours of his life,
D'SILVA says
AHLOWALIA was
with her and one of his older brothers. They spent the evening
having dinner and joking around.
"We were reminiscing about our childhoods and growing up in Indian
families and joking about pranks we used to get into and the
trouble we used to get into with our parents," she said.
AHLOWALIA's final stop before he left to drive home was the house
of his sister-in-law's parents in York Region.
"I hugged him goodnight and went inside and he talked to his
brother for a bit and got back in the car and that was it and
then a couple of hours later, we got a call that he was gone,"
she said.
The youngest of three brothers, he grew up in a devout Catholic
family. He planned to become a priest but left after a year to
pursue a career in the force.
"Any sort of injustice he just couldn't stand for it, he wouldn't
just sit back there and think about it, he'd get out there and
do something about it."
Last October, he flew to India to work with Mother Teresa's charity,
where he bought food for the homeless and cared for the mentally
handicapped. His vacations were spent volunteering. "He's done
more in his 28 years than most people would have in 90 years,"
D'SILVA said. "He has lived his life and he has touched so many
people in that short time."
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